Nevada Man Charged With Voting With The Vote Of His Dead Wife

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Speaking to a news station in Las Vegas in November, Donald Kirk Hartle described being “shocked” at the possibility that someone had stolen his deceased wife’s mail-in ballot and used it to vote in the 2020 election. ” That offends me, to be honest with you, ”he told KLAS-TV.

But this week, the Nevada attorney general filed two voter fraud charges against Mr. Hartle, 55, alleging he forged his wife’s signature to vote with his ballot.

“Voter fraud is rare, but if it happens it will not build confidence in our election system and my office will not tolerate it,” attorney general Aaron D. Ford said, in a statement Thursday. “I want to emphasize that our office will pursue any credible allegations of voter fraud and will work to bring any offenders to justice.”

The announcement from Mr. Ford’s office came months after waves of Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump, falsely asserted that the 2020 election was tainted by widespread voter fraud, including in Nevada. , a state lost to Mr. Trump.

Mr. Hartle, a registered Republican, was charged with voting in another person’s name and voting more than once in the same election, the attorney general’s office said in a statement. Each charge carries a prison sentence of up to four years and a fine of up to $ 5,000, prosecutors said.

The criminal complaint did not explain how prosecutors determined Mr. Hartle committed voter fraud. Questions sent to the office of Mr. Ford, a Democrat elected to the position in 2018, were not immediately answered on Saturday.

David Chesnoff, an attorney for Mr. Hartle, said in a statement that his client was “looking forward to addressing the allegations in court.” Mr. Hartle is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Township Justice Court on Nov. 18.

The Nevada Republican Party cited Mr. Hartle’s story as evidence of voting irregularities on Twitter last year, saying Mr. Hartle “was shocked to learn that his late wife Rosemarie, a Republican, had voted in this year’s elections despite the demise. ”In 2017.

However, since announcing the charges against Mr. Hartle, the party has not corrected the note, said Callum Ingram, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“The state of the Republican Party has been quietly unsure of this case since it was returned to its head,” Drs. Ingram in an interview on Saturday.

Mr. Hartle is the chief financial officer and treasurer of Ahern Rentals, according to his LinkedIn profile. The business leases construction equipment and parts of the Ahern Family of Companies. One of its businesses, Xtreme Manufacturing, was fined $ 3,000 in 2020 for hosting a Trump rally that did not comply with state Covid regulations at the time, said Kathleen Richards, a city spokeswoman. of Henderson, Nev.

Nevada was one of several states in November dealing with dubious voter fraud claims after the presidential election.

Nevada secretary of state Barbara K. Cegavske said in a document posted in December titled “Facts vs. Myths” that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the state.

Ms. Cagavske’s office led the investigation into Mr. Hartle’s case.

“Our office takes voter fraud very seriously,” Ms. Cegavske in a statement released by Mr. Ford’s office. “Our division section is working hard to end this case.”

Conservative news outlets spread Mr. Hartle’s story. After the state Republican Party highlighted the case on Twitter, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza discussed the case on his show. Fox News host Tucker Carlson then backed up Mr. Hartle’s account, saying: “We don’t know who did it. We wish we did, because it’s fraud.”

For many voters in the state, Dr. Ingram, who proves that widespread voter fraud did not happen “is something worthless of counterevidence, worthless of effort to prove people wrong on facts or reasons, is always moved because it is unreasonable. questionable article of faith. “

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