Arizona woman sentenced for casting dead father’s ballot in 2018 election

PHOENIX — An Arizona woman was sentenced Monday for casting her dead father’s ballot in the November 2018 federal election, authorities said.

Marcia Johnson, 70, of Lake Havasu City, was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and fined $1,000 after previously pleading guilty in December 2021 to one count of voting more than once, a felony offense.

Johnson cast her own mail-in ballot as well as the one sent to her father, who died in 2012 but remained on Mohave County’s voter rolls, authorities said.

“Election integrity has two pillars: ensuring that only eligible voters cast ballots; and insisting that all eligible voters who choose to vote can do so easily and efficiently, with confidence that their vote will be counted,” United States Attorney Gary Restaino said in a press release.

“Prosecution is a key deterrent on the rare occasions when illegal votes are cast, and this prosecution comes with an important collateral consequence: as a result of her federal felony conviction, Ms. Johnson will lose the right to vote in Arizona until she completes her term of probation.”

Mail ballots sent to Johnson’s father had been returned in seven other federal elections after his death, according to the charging document.

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