Election integrity advocates have been warning that the trend of light sentences for those convicted of election fraud will not result in any actual deterrence from further election fraud crimes being committed in upcoming elections.
As reported by Just The News, while prosecutors have been going after those accused of perpetuating voter fraud, the final sentences are often produced as a result of plea deals, and thus often lead to little or no jail time.
“The good news is [prosecutors] seem to be more aggressive about going against these kinds of cases,” said Ned Jones, deputy director of the Election Integrity Network. “But the sentencing is ridiculous. It’s not harsh enough.”
In Arizona, former San Luis Mayor Guillermina Fuentes was sentenced to just 30 days in jail, and two years of probation, for participating in an illegal ballot-harvesting operation in 2020. The same year, a social worker in Texas was charged with 134 felony counts of election fraud after having submitted the voter registration applications of 67 residents without their consent or their signature. However, the culprit entered a plea deal that led to a probation sentence, instead of the original penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
“Where’s the deterrent?” Jones asked, citing these and other examples of light sentences for the serious crime of widespread voter fraud.
According to J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, another issue is that many prosecutors “are extremely unfamiliar with bringing” such voter fraud cases, as “they don’t have experience in election law” or “prosecuting voter cases.” As a result, they are more likely to cave to the defense’s efforts to “plea down,” out of fear that they will lose the trial.
“None of these prosecutors get training in election law,” Adams stated plainly.
All of the cases in question, and more, were the result of widespread voter fraud schemes in the 2020 election, where overwhelming evidence strongly suggests that the results of the election were altered to the point that President Donald Trump’s victory was suppressed in favor of Democrat Joe Biden.