“because an absentee voter must first apply for an absentee ballot
as a ‘prerequisite to voting.”’ Id. at 589 (quoting t h e d e f i n i t i o n
o f “ v o t e ” i n 52 U.S.C. § 10310(c)(1)). The court also held that by
using the names of real registered voters on the applications, the
defendants “[gave] false information as to [their] name[s]” within the
meaning of Section 10307(c). 18 Id. Finally, the court held that one of
the defendants, whose role was limited to completing absentee ballot
applications for ballots that others used to fraudulently vote, was liable
under 18 U.S.C. § 2 as an aider and abettor. Id. at 589–90.
Subsequently, in United States v. Smith, the Eleventh Circuit
held that each forgery of a voter’s name on a ballot document or on
an application for a ballot constituted a separate offense under the
“false information as to name” clause of Section 10307(c). 231 F.3d
800, 815 (11th Cir. 2000).
Section 10307(c)’s false information clause is particularly
useful when the evidence shows that a voter’s signature (name) was
forged on an election-related document, for example: (1) when
signatures on poll lists are forged by election officials who are
stuffing a ballot box, (2) when a voter’s signature on an application for
an absentee ballot is forged, or (3) when bogus voter registration
documents are fabricated in order to get names on voter registries.
Some, but not all, states permit a practice commonly known as
“bounty-hunting,” that is, paying people to collect voter
registrations on a per-registration basis. Where it is allowed, it is not
unusual to find that this method of remuneration provides a motive for
the unscrupulous to forge voter registrations and to enhance the
piecework payments they can receive. While this situation usually
does not result in fraudulent votes actually being cast, it does cause
voter registration offices to become overloaded with the task of
processing large numbers of bogus registrations immediately prior to an
The Eighth Circuit observed that “[b]ecause only registered voters are
eligible to apply for and vote absentee ballots, the use of real registered voters’
names was essential to the scheme to obtain and fraudulently vote absentee
ballots . . . .” Id.
18
42