A story published August 8, 2014 on DothanFirst.com indicated several ballots were apparently mailed to people at homes where they haven’t resided in several years. It’s not clear why the applications were mailed to the wrong address but some people said they believe others voted using their name.

Specifically, the defendants are accused of violation of Section 17 of the Alabama Criminal Code. The statute reads “Any person who willfully changes an absentee voter’s ballot to the extent that it does not reflect the voter’s true ballot, any person who willfully votes more than once by absentee ballot in the same election, any person who willfully votes for another voter or falsifies absentee ballot applications or verification documents so as to vote absentee, or any person who solicits, encourages, urges, or otherwise promotes illegal absentee voting, shall be guilty, upon conviction, of a Class C felony. Any person who willfully aids any person unlawfully to vote an absentee ballot, any person who knowingly and unlawfully votes an absentee ballot, and any voter who votes both an absentee and a regular ballot at any election shall be similarly punished.“

The news video says voter fraud may have been going on for years and this was just the latest conspiracy involving ballot fraud.  The case shows why photo voter ID would help prevent or reduce the amount of impersonation fraud in absentee voting.  It is much tougher to fraudulently copy the photo ID of an individual or provide the social security number of another individual when voting a mail ballot than voting a mail ballot simply under fraudulent signature.  The requirement for photo ID and other identifying information would help reduce impersonation fraud.