Republican Candidate Under Investigation For Absentee Ballot Fraud

East Longmeadow Select­man Enrique John “Jack” Villamaino III (R), a candidate for the Massachusetts state legislature, is reportedly being investigated for voter fraud. The Boston Globe reported today that the county’s District Attorney is looking into a possible “illegal scheme to cast absentee ballots on behalf of hundreds of voters in hope of winning a primary election.” The paper notes that:

A friend of Villamaino’s who works in the East Longmeadow town clerk’s office is suspected of having changed the registrations in the office computers ­after work hours, according to one investigator who asked not to be named because the investigation is confidential.

Republicans have attempted to mislead voters into believing that voter fraud is a widespread problem — and used the issue to push suppression laws requiring voters to show government-issued identification in order to vote in-person.

These photo identification laws would, of course, do absolutely nothing to prevent this sort of election fraud. And while the Secretary of State of Massachusetts note that this sort of fraud is highly unusual, those involved will face criminal prosecution under the robust existing laws, if the investigation determines they are guilty.

As rare as election fraud is, many of the rare cases where it has been reported of late have ironically involved Republican candidates.