DA declines to charge woman who cast vote in dead mom’s name

NEWTON, N.C. (AP) - A state prosecutor in North Carolina has declined to bring voter-fraud charges against a woman who cast a vote for Donald Trump in her recently deceased mother’s name.

The Charlotte Observer reports (https://bit.ly/2qbuioJ ) that District Attorney David Learner said in a statement Wednesday that it wasn’t in the public’s interest to charge the unidentified 67-year-old Catawba County woman with the felony offense.

Learner’s office says the woman’s 89-year-old mother was an ardent Trump supporter who told her to vote for the Republican candidate in the presidential election with her power of attorney before dying in October. The woman cast the vote at an early voting site and says it wasn’t intended to be fraudulent.

Learner, a Republican, says his decision was nonpartisan. Trump carried Catawba County with 70 percent of the vote.

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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, https://www.charlotteobserver.com