In Elkins, West Virginia, a postal worker has pleaded guilty for altering mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots.
According to U.S. Attorney Bill Powell, Thomas Cooper entered the plea in federal court to attempted election fraud and injury to the mail.
Cooper was charged back in May when eight mail-in requests for absentee voter ballots were found to be altered.
In a federal affidavit, it states that Cooper held a contract to pick up the ballots in three towns where the voters lived and deliver them to the Pendleton County clerk.
An investigation by the secretary of state’s office found five of the ballot requests had their party affiliations altered with a black ink pen.
Attorney general’s office investigator, Bennie Cogar, conducted the probe on behalf of the secretary of state’s office said that the Pendleton County clerk called some of the voters after receiving the requests because she knew that something wasn’t right. The clerk then immediately contacted the secretary of state’s office to report the altercations.
In an interview with Cogar and a postal inspector, Copper admitted to having changed some of the requests he picked up from the Onega post office.
It states in the affidavit that when Cooper was asked about the other requests he responded, “I’m not saying no,” but if those requests had been picked up along his postal route, “I would take the blame.” Cooper was then asked if he was “just being silly” and he said he did it “as a joke” and did not even know the voters whose ballots were altered.
Tampering with someone else’s mail is a federal offense and can carry a three-year jail sentence or a $250,000 for each act of vandalism.
