Millbourne officials charged with brazen voter fraud scheme to try to steal a mayoral election
Delaware County’s election director described the alleged scheme as “exceedingly rare.”
Three officials in a tiny borough in southeast Delaware County illegally cast dozens of ballots in a 2021 mayoral race, only to have their candidate lose, federal prosecutors allege.
Federal prosecutors charged Millbourne Borough Council Vice President Md Nurul Hasan, council member Md Munsur Ali, and former council member Rafikul Islam on Tuesday with dozens of election charges stemming from what they say was an unsuccessful plot to steal a mayoral election for Hasan four years ago.
In a rare case of voter fraud, a federal grand jury indictment alleges a remarkably brazen effort by the three Democratic officials to change the registration of voters in neighboring communities to Millbourne before casting mail ballots on their behalf.
In a small community that is home to just over 1,200 people, the scheme — which federal officials say resulted in about three dozen fraudulent ballots — could have swayed results in the low-turnout election. But Hasan still lost the race by nearly 30 votes to Mayor Mahabubul A. Tayub.
No defense attorney was listed for the men. The Inquirer was unable to reach them Thursday and an attorney for the borough did not respond to a request for comment.
Jim Allen, the Delaware County elections director, said the county cooperated in the investigation after concerns were raised in 2021. The prosecutions, he said, should serve as a deterrent to others tempted to break the rules.
“I view this as evidence that investigators are not going to let passage of time or the lack of an impact on the election result prevent them from pursuing the case, however long it takes.”
The scheme, which required knowledge of personal information, Allen said, is “exceedingly rare.”
After losing the Democratic primary for Millbourne mayor in 2021, Hasan launched a write-in campaign for the general election.
In an effort to win that race, the indictment alleges, he and Ali asked friends who did not live in Millbourne to change their voter registration address to Millbourne and vote for him. They allegedly told those friends that they would not be punished as long as they did not vote in another election that November.
Additionally, Ali and Hasan allegedly persuaded friends to provide them with their driver’s licenses or other documents with identifying information. They then used Pennsylvania’s online voter registration system to change the registration address for those individuals.
They did the same with the registration of other voters whose identifying information they were able to obtain without the voters' knowledge, prosecutors allege.
Pennsylvania’s online voter registration system is set up so that voters can register and alter information only for themselves. In order to register to vote or change information, voters must provide their date of birth, address, and Social Security number or driver’s license number.
That same system can also be used to request a mail ballot.
According to the indictment, Hasan not only used personal information to change nonresidents' voter registrations, but also had those individuals' ballots sent to himself, Ali, and Islam. The men then allegedly filled out the ballots, voting for Hasan, and returned them to Delaware County voter services.
Prosecutors allege the men falsely registered and cast ballots for about three dozen voters.
They are each charged with conspiracy and several counts of fraudulent voter registration and providing false information in voter registrations. All three defendants are scheduled to be arraigned next week.