The Student News Site of University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Badger Herald

The Student News Site of University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Badger Herald

The Student News Site of University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Badger Herald

Advertisements
Advertisements

Madison couple charged with voter fraud

An elderly Madison-area couple was convicted of voter fraud Monday after casting ballots in two separate Wisconsin elections.

Janice and Louis Kwiatkowski, both 67, were charged with voting twice in Dane and Columbia counties because they own land in both places. The charge is a felony in Wisconsin.

Janice Kwiatkowski said they were simply misinformed about the election regulations, but the argument did not convince the jury.

Advertisements

The decision raised some questions among officials about the rationale for convicting such small-scale offenders of a felony, which can carry a penalty of up to three-and-a-half years in prison, $10,000 in fines and loss of voting rights.

However, such instances of voter fraud, especially when it concerns a mistake of fact, are a rare occurrence.

“You can be mistaken about the proper place that you can vote, but that’s usually something you can square away right at the polls,” University of Wisconsin law professor Walter Dickey said. “A student could be mistaken about their eligibility or the requirement that they vote where they reside as opposed to where their parents live. But one of this kind, where the person votes in two different places, owning land in two different places, is fairly unusual.”

District Attorney Brian Blanchard said this was the first time in his career he prosecuted such a case, but that it was not unheard of.

“It has happened in other places around the state and in fairly similar circumstances,” Blanchard said. “Somebody owns property in more than one county and they get it in their head that it’s really only fair that they ought to be able to vote in two counties because they’re being taxed in two counties. The law does not allow that.”

Dickey said the question is whether the couple had the obligation to determine whether they were eligible.

“The ones that are of more concern are ones where you’ve got someone trying to encourage a block of ineligible voters to vote,” Dickey said. “There you’re really trying to influence to outcome of the election in a premeditated way.”

Blanchard maintains that prosecuting every case of electoral fraud, no matter how small the scale, is crucial to maintaining the principles of democracy.

“Our whole system depends on the integrity of one person, one vote. If we didn’t take it seriously we’d just be winking at voter fraud, which dilutes and devalues every legitimate vote that anyone casts,” Blanchard said.

The district attorney added both aggravating and mitigating factors in the case would be taken into account at sentencing, and in Wisconsin such an offense still allows the convicted to vote after they’ve been punished. Blanchard said the larger implication of the trial was election officials were able to catch the mistake and avoid skewed voting results.

“I think the system worked here. It’s true that fraudulent ballots were cast, but it was detected,” Blanchard said. “I think it’s a credit to our system. I like to think that if people try this they’re really going to risk getting caught.”

Advertisements
Leave a Comment
Donate to The Badger Herald

Your donation will support the student journalists of University of Wisconsin-Madison. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Badger Herald

Comments (0)

All The Badger Herald Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *