ELKINS — A rural Pendleton County mail carrier has admitted to federal charges in the alleged manipulation of absentee voter requests.
Thomas Cooper, 47, of Dry Fork, pleaded guilty July 9 to single counts of injury to the mail and attempt to defraud the residents of West Virginia of a fair election. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell and Secretary of State Mac Warner made the announcement. Cooper will be sentenced at a later date.
“News of the guilty plea underscores the strength of our case,” Morrisey said. “Our team remains committed to protecting the integrity of elections in West Virginia. Our citizens deserve nothing less.”
Morrisey
Cooper was charged in federal court with attempting to defraud the residents of West Virginia of a fair election. According to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint, Cooper fraudulently altered eight absentee ballot requests in Pendleton County. The criminal complaint claims he fraudulently changed the party affiliation on five from Democrat to Republican. An investigator for the Attorney General gathered evidence for the case on behalf of the Secretary of State’s Office.
“In West Virginia every vote counts and those that attempt to disrupt our democratic processes will be held accountable for their actions,” Warner said. “I am greatly pleased with outcome of the Election Fraud Task Force's effort to investigate and proceed with prosecution expeditiously to obtain a guilty plea of absentee balloting fraud.”
An affidavit filed in late May states Cooper fraudulently altered eight absentee ballot requests in Pendleton County, of which the complaint states he fraudulently changed the party affiliation on five from Democrat to Republican.
According to the affidavit, Cooper accessed the ballot requests through his employment as a rural mail carrier. He was responsible for mail delivery in the three towns – Onego, Riverton and Franklin – from which the tampered requests were mailed. The affidavit says Cooper admitted to altering some of the requests.
In April, investigator Bernie Cogar of the AG's office and U.S. Postal Service Inspector Todd Phillips interviewed Cooper. During the interview, Cooper said he changed requests that had been placed in the mail at the Onega post office. As for the others, Cooper said, "I'm not saying no ... (but) if it was on my route, I would take the blame."
Cogar then asked Cooper if he was "just being silly."
"Yeah, (I did it) as a joke," Cooper replied. "(I) don't even know them."
One of the voters said all four members of his family requested a Democrat ballot by placing a blue ink line under the word “Democrat," and that they did not use black ink. They said they did not request a Republican ballot. His daughter just happens to be the Onego postmaster and personally placed all four of the requests in the mail at her post office on April 9. Knowing this, the postmaster suggested that a mail carrier might have tampered with their requests.
“Had Cooper’s conduct not been detected, it would have caused the Clerk to give Republican ballots to five Democrat voters — skewing the primary election by five votes and thereby defrauding all West Virginians of a fair election,” Cogar stated in the affidavit.
Morrisey's office says the alterations were caught by an elections official in the Pendleton County Courthouse and reported to the state’s Election Fraud Task Force.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Warner (no relation to the Secretary of State) prosecuted the case. The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office, West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office and the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General investigated.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Aloi presided.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 2:20-mj-00018-MJA
