Republican official claims ‘honest error’ after admitting to voter fraud in 2020 election

Donald Trump railed against voter fraud and mail-in ballots during the 2020 election

A small-town Republican official said he made an "honest error" by forging his recently deceased father’s signature to vote twice in the 2020 presidential election.

Edward Snodgrass, of Ohio, told NBC News he was "sleep-deprived and not thinking clearly" but that would not run away from taking responsibility for the apparent voter fraud.

The trustee of Porter township, population 1,800, did not confirm who he voted for but told the outlet it was not "just Trump voter fraud".

“I was simply trying to execute a dying man’s wishes,” Mr Snodgrass said.

His father, Hiram Edward Snodgrass, died on 5 October last year at the age of 78, according to an obituary published in The Columbus Dispatch.

A day later, a mail-in ballot was delivered and Mr Snodgrass, who had power of attorney over his Parkinson’s-suffering father, said he signed it among "a pile of other paperwork".

Special Prosecutor for Delaware County, David Homer, told NBC News that Mr Snodgrass is expected to plead guilty to a charge of falsification on 9 July as part of a plea agreement to receive three days in jail and a $500 fine.

The plea reduced the initial charge of illegal voting, a fourth-degree felony that carries a prison sentence of six months and a $5,000 fine.

“I’ve been doing this since the 1980s, and this is the first one I’ve seen like this,” Mr Homer told NBC.

“It ain’t over till the guy pleads guilty and that’s July the 9th."

According to court records cited by the outlet, the absentee ballot of Mr Snodgrass’s father arrived on 15 October, or 10 days after he died. Mr Snodgrass, meanwhile, reportedly cast his own ballot eight days later.