Three Iowans charged with voter fraud; all are non-citizens

Updated at 3:50 p.m.:

An investigation into voter fraud in Iowa has netted three suspects.

Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation on Thursday announced voter-fraud charges against three Council Bluffs residents who are not citizens but allegedly registered to vote and cast ballots in 2010 and 2011 elections.

Albert Harte-Maxwell, 52, Linda Harte-Maxwell, 49, and Maria Ayon-Fernandez, 40, all have been charged with election misconduct, a Class D felony.

All three turned themselves in to law enforcement on Thursday, were booked and released, according to a statement from DCI.

The DCI investigation is part of a wider effort by Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz to identify and crack down on fraudulent voting in the state.

His office earlier this year checked the state’s voter registration rolls against a list of noncitizens who had obtained drivers licenses, yielding a list of more than 3,500 voters who are potentially ineligible to cast ballots.

Schultz has been trying for months to gain access to a federal immigration database that he says will allow him to more accurately determine the citizenship status of those voters. But while he’s been waiting, DCI has pursued its own investigation.

The charges announced Thursday are the first publicly announced results of that investigation.

In a statement, Schultz said he was “grateful” for DCI’s “hard work and dedication.”

“Every person who cheats in the voting booth deprives a hard-working, eligible citizen of their voice in our government,” he said. “That is why I have been fighting for election integrity and will continue to do so.”

In criminal complaints, a DCI investigator identifies the Harte-Maxwells as Canadian citizens and Ayon-Fernandez as a citizen of Mexico.

The complaints allege that Albert Harte-Maxwell voted in both the 2010 general election and a 2011 local election, while Linda Harte Maxwell voted in a 2011 local election. Records show Ayon-Fernandez voted in the 2010 general election as well.

Albert Harte-Maxwell and Ayon-Fernandez — whose names appear in a voter-registration database maintained by the Des Moines Register — are both registered no-party.

In the complaints, the investigator recounts interviews with both Albert and Linda Harte-Maxwell, in which they said they are Canadian citizens but legal permanent residents of the United States, and believed they were allowed to vote in all elections except for the presidential election.

Ayon-Fernandez, meanwhile, said in an interview with the investigator that she believes she is a U.S. citizen, although she was unable to provide documentation.