Queens man forged absentee ballots in Democratic primary as part of voter fraud scheme: DA

nypost.com ^ | December 19, 2023 | Steve Janoski

[lowbridge]

A Queens man was arraigned Tuesday for allegedly requesting and submitting dozens of fraudulent absentee ballots ahead of the Democratic primary election in August 2022, the borough’s district attorney said.

Abdul Rahman, 32, of 257th Street in Floral Park, could serve up to seven years in prison after a monster 140-count indictment outlined how he pulled off the voter fraud plot in an attempt to disenfranchise 118 voters.

“Every vote has to count,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.

“Election integrity is the foundation of a viable, working democracy,” she continued.

“We will vigorously prosecute anyone who threatens in any way to undermine that integrity … The integrity of elections will be upheld in this borough.”

Prosecutors alleged that Richmond Hill resident Jordan Sandke went to his local polling place on Aug. 23, 2022, to vote in the Democratic primary.

But when he got there, poll workers said he couldn’t cast a ballot because he’d already requested an absentee.

When authorities looked into it, they found Sandke’s ballot application — which included his name, address and birthday — had been signed and dated Aug. 1.

And Rahman was listed as the person who would pick it up.

Of course, Sandke never requested, filled out or signed the application.

Also, he’d never met Rahman — and certainly never gave him the green light to pick up the ballot on his behalf.

As authorities continued to investigate, they found Rahman had gone to the Queens County Board of Elections to drop off 118 absentee ballot applications on Aug. 8.

He’d also designated himself as the person who would pick them up.

Of those, 32 were approved, Katz said. Rahman allegedly grabbed them the next day.

When law enforcement interviewed the voter fraud victims, they found that none of them

[lowbridge]

Indeed. I’ll bet this wasn’t this guy’s first time. They should look into his actions in previous elections, both primary and general.

[Steven Scharf]

32 ballots? This is small scale stuff.

He requested 118 ballots. Only 32 seemed to have been approved. The system should have questioned this with the 118 applications to start with.

[jdege]

>>>He requested 118 ballots.

Here in Minnesota we have same-day registration. You can walk in and vote, if you have ID, or a utility bill, or have a voter who’s already registered in the precinct vouch for you.

Some years back the Republicans here suggested that a single individual could vouch for for no more than 25 new voters.

The Democrats, of course, voted it down.