A man who attempted to vote twice in Virginia's 2023 election was acquitted of attempted illegal voting on Monday, following his claims in court that he had been testing the the system for voter fraud.

NELSON COUNTY, Va. — A jury in this bright-red corner of rural Virginia found an avid Donald Trump fan not guilty of attempted illegal voting in a one-day trial Monday, accepting the man’s claim that he was only trying to test the election system for voter fraud when he asked to vote a second time in local elections last year.

Archived at https://archive.is/U7AoW

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    95·
    14 days ago

    As fucked as that situation is, it’s not the same situation.

    It comes down to the fact that she did actually submit an illegal ballot. How that happened is where the shit is fucked up, but the base fact of a. Illegal ballot being submitted is there. In this case, he didn’t actually submit a second ballot, the poll workers didn’t give him one.

    If he’s being charged for a crime that requires submitting two ballots, but he only ever submitted one, it’s pretty clear that he didn’t do the specific crime he’s accused of. Even if the context around it is extremely suspect, at best.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
      101·
      14 days ago

      Was he charged with voter fraud or attempted voter fraud? For many crimes, attempting a crime is a separate crime that carries penalties even if not successful in the actual crime. Not sure if that is the case here.