Las Vegas man pleads guilty to forging ballot for his dead wife

His claims were initially used as ‘evidence’ of election fraud

A businessman who falsely claimed someone voted as his deceased wife has pleaded guilty to voter fraud.

Donald Kirk Hartle of Las Vegas previously said that his wife, Rosemarie Hartle, who died in 2017, was on a state list of active voters and had a signed ballot submitted in her name.

His claim was widely used among Republicans as evidence of voter fraud in the fraught aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, in which there were subsequently discredited allegations that President Joe Biden rigged the election against Donald Trump.

When an investigation was launched into who cast his wife’s ballot, Mr Hartle told KLAS that the incident was “pretty sickening” and “lent some credence to what you’ve been hearing in the media” regarding voter fraud.

At the time, Nevada GOP posted on Twitter that it was a “concrete case” of voter fraud, reports Business Insider.

Mr Hartle was charged with two felonies for submitting his dead wife’s ballot, according to arrest documents, reports the Associated Press.

He later entered a plea deal and is expected to pay a $2,000 fine and receive the equivalent of one year of probation, avoiding jail time.

Mr Hartle’s attorney, David Chesnoff, told reporters that his client accepted responsibility for his actions. He is the only person in Nevada currently being prosecuted on charges of voter fraud.

Attorney General Aaron D Ford said in a press release that voting fraud was rare, but “when it happens it undercuts trust in our election system and will not be tolerated by my office.”