Local NY election official charged over absentee ballots
A Republican county elections commissioner upstate was accused Tuesday of applying for absentee ballots in the names of other people.
Jason Schofield of the Rensselaer County Board of Elections was arraigned on an indictment charging him with using the names of eight registered voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots in the 2021 primary and general elections, when local offices were on the ballot.
In several cases, Schofield allegedly brought the ballots to those registered voters and had them sign absentee ballot envelopes without actually voting. That allowed Schofield or another person to cast votes in these voters’ names, according to the indictment.