Couple admits submitting hundreds of fake voter registration forms
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A former Minnesota resident appeared in a St. Paul federal courtroom this week and admitted filling out hundreds of fraudulent voter registration applications. The state’s top elections official said that this was the largest case of its kind that he’s seen, but routine checks prevented all of the fictitious people from making it onto Minnesota’s voter rolls.
In June, the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Ronnie Williams, 58, and Lorraine Lee Combs, his 57-year-old romantic partner, with conspiracy to engage in voter registration fraud. Combs pleaded guilty on June 24, and Williams followed suit on Tuesday. The two previously lived in West St. Paul, but have since moved to Nevada.
Federal prosecutors say that Williams worked for a foundation that paid him to register Minnesota voters in 2021 and 2022. Because the investigation remains active, authorities aren’t naming the foundation.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who oversees the state’s elections, said that the couple filled out more than 500 fraudulent voter registration applications.
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“From time to time there are batches or groups of one or two or a handful. But I can’t recall one this large,” Simon said in a phone interview with MPR News on Wednesday.
Williams and Combs wrote down phony names, including “Brad Montly” and “Harry Jhonson,” along with fake addresses, Social Security numbers and other information. Williams handed the forms to the foundation, which then submitted them to county elections offices.
Simon said that election workers are required to check all of the applications against public records in a multi-step process to ensure that the names and addresses on voter registration applications are real. Simon said that election workers in Carver County were the first to become suspicious, and the phony forms showed up in about a dozen counties.
“This is an example of the system working, because every last one of those phony fake false voter registrations were discovered, were not in circulation, and the perpetrators were caught.”
Simon said that the couple’s motivation appears to be financial, not political. Minnesota law allows organizations to compensate people for registering voters, but it’s illegal to pay them a fixed rate per application or for reaching a quota.
The Secretary of State said that investigators are looking at whether the foundation that hired Williams broke this law, and if its leaders knew that the hundreds of applications he sent them were fraudulent.
Both Williams and Combs remain free. The court has yet to schedule sentencing hearings.
