Ohio Poll Worker Who Admitted to Voting Twice for Obama Is Convicted of Voter Fraud, Faces 6 Years in Prison

Melowese Richardson was convicted of illegal voting. (Image source: WCPO-TV)

The former Ohio poll worker who admitted flat-out to voting twice for President Barack Obama in November was convicted Tuesday of illegal voting, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Melowese Richardson of Madisonville, Ohio was accused of eight counts of illegal voting in the 2008, 2011 and 2012 elections. She pleaded no contest to four counts in exchange for prosecutors dropping the remaining charges, the newspaper reported. A judge immediately convicted Richardson, who now faces up to six years in prison.

Richardson had admitted to Cincinnati's WCPO-TV in February that she voted twice, after documents showed she first submitted an absentee ballot and told an official she later voted at the polls as well.

“Yes I voted twice,” Richardson told WCPO. “I, after registering thousands and thousands of people, certainly wanted my vote to count, so I voted. I voted at the polls.”

Richardson, who had been a Hamilton County poll worker since 1998 until being fired this year, said she had "absolutely no intent" to commit voter fraud.

Among the charges she pleaded no contest to included voting three times for a relative who has been in a coma for 2003, the Enquirer reported.

According to the newspaper, Richardson's "penmanship and familiarity" led to her being convicted.

“They noticed a bunch of absentee ballots coming from the same place with the same handwriting,” prosecutor Bill Anderson said.

Richardson is the third person in the county to be convicted of illegal voting this year, and three others have cases pending.

Richardson will be sentenced July 9.

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