Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,363
www.buzzfeednews.com

A Mail Carrier Took People's Absentee Ballot Requests And Switched Their Party To Republican

Thomas Cooper of West Virginia is facing eight years in federal prison.

A West Virginia mail carrier is facing prison time after admitting he attempted election fraud by changing the party registrations of people who had requested absentee ballotsfor the state's June primary, officials announced Thursday.

Thomas Cooper, 47, of Dry Fork signed an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to defraud the residents of West Virginia of a fair election and one count of injury to the mail.

In a May 26 criminal complaint, prosecutors detailed how the Clerk of Pendleton County discovered the eight 2020 primary election COVID-19 mail-in absentee requests appeared to have been altered using a black pen.
When investigators met with Cooper in late April, he admitted to changing some of the ballots.

"[I did it] as a joke," he said, according to the complaint. " don't even know them."

Cooper faces up to eight years in prison, although prosecutors have agreed as part of the plea deal to call for a reduced sentence.

Cooper attorney Scott Curnutte told BuzzFeed News his client had engaged in a "silly lark."

"He is deeply sorry for the implications for our democratic process," Curnutte said. "It should be remembered, however, that the mail he altered were requests for ballots, not ballots themselves."
 

wisdom0wl

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
8,128
"I did it as a joke"

Why is this their go to, lame ass defense. Just a prank bro headass
 

Grug

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,657
The punishment for this should be very harsh. It shows utter contempt to the fabric of the political system and the social contract.

Need to make an example of him.

It's always Republicans

And always Republicans projecting that mail-in ballots are a source of fraud by Democrats.
 

Mr. Keith

Member
Oct 31, 2017
1,945
just a joke bro made you vote maga! what a scamp!

I do like that this makes all the people against voting by mail look stupid. First it was one of them that ended up doing it instead of the liberals they like to blame and second it was promptly caught showing how secure a mail in ballot can be.
 

LakeEarth

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,224
Ontario
And always Republicans projecting that mail-in ballots are a source of fraud by Democrats.
I think the whole projection thing works like this. They lie and say that the left does terrible things. But then they forget it's a lie over time, and use the now "truth" (in their minds) to justify doing it themselves.
 
Oct 25, 2017
6,991
What good does changing the party registrations even do when it's just requesting ballots? Makes it so some people can't vote in a primary? What a stupid thing to put yourself in jail over.
 

louiedog

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,548
A group was signing up students to vote outside of the business school at my university and of course they were helpful enough to mail them in even. Somehow, the state didn't receive those registrations for the students who indicated D as their party affiliation until just after the deadline passed...
 

take_marsh

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,412
Seems like most crimes involving politics are committed by Republicans.

Hm. Nah probably just a co-winky-doink.
 

thefit

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,243
This guys job has been threatened by republicans for years, Trump even refuses to bail them out. Fucking moron.
 

Futureman

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,464
Here's from a local newspaper (Pittsburgh) that leans to the right and the comments are always Trump trolls...

triblive.com

West Virginia mail carrier admits attempted election fraud

ELKINS, W.Va. — A West Virginia postal carrier pleaded guilty Thursday to altering mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots. Thomas Cooper entered the plea in federal court in Elkins to attempted election fraud and injury to the mail, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell said in a statement. Cooper was...

Hmmm no comments on this article??
 

Dekim

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,355
Why is this guy even a mail carrier? Isn't that a government job? Aren't all government employees bootlicking parasites to conservatives? Or does it not apply them for "reasons?"
 

Fleck0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,457
yeah fuck this guy and throw the book at him. Fucking with mail is bad enough on top of tampering with voter registrations.

He kinda needs to get locked away to discourage this, it could really become a problem considering how "Republicans Gone Wild" is a daily occurrence now. Whether they're attacking grocery store clerks or filing false police reports or running over protesters. Fuck these people.

I fear we havent even seen the tip of the iceberg regarding violent psychotic breaks within the GOP diehards. Especially as Trump continues to falter.
 
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Instro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,200
I like that the ad I'm getting from.thia thread is for the Trump campaign store.
 

PHOENIXZERO

Member
Oct 29, 2017
12,326
WTF? How was he able to see what they were? Are they like mailable scantrons? Anyway, I'm glad he was caught.
If they're like the Michigan ones, it's pretty obvious, especially when you've already seen one. I got two for people who haven't lived at my address for like 30 years, been getting mail for them for some reason for the last seven or so years, first it was just junk mail from State Farm but this year I suddenly started getting government stuff. Took the absentee ballots to my nearly Secretary of State since the times in the past that I've returned stuff to the post office it change anything... Then the next day got voter registration cards for them.
 

Jogi

Prophet of Regret
Member
Jul 4, 2018
5,534
Lol of course. Those who rail against something so incessantly without a shred of proof of that thing ever existing is almost always guilty of said thing. It's like clock work.
 

Rendering...

Member
Oct 30, 2017
19,089
Incoming Trump pardon? Some good people are doing some very good work for us out there, and they need to know we appreciate their support.
 

Razmos

Unshakeable One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 28, 2017
15,895
Waiting for trumps tweet calling him a hero and pardoning him
 

atomsk eater

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,863
Cooper faces up to eight years in prison, although prosecutors have agreed as part of the plea deal to call for a reduced sentence.

He deserves the full sentence. Not just dumb and malicious enough to mess with people's mail and voting shit, but nearly 50 damn years old and thinks "it was a prank" is some kind of defense or mitigating statement.
 

Terra Firma

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,235
Why would Republicans NOT do something underhanded when it's firstly difficult to get caught and secondly the consequences are relatively lenient for the crime if and when they do end up getting caught? We already know they have no morals or ethics to speak of.

Like this moron saying he was just joking. That's straight out of the far right playbook: do or say something outrageous, say you were just joking, but wink and nod to others who share your idiotic beliefs that you actually weren't.