UMaine student charged with submitting former roommate's ballot as her own

Alyssa Dau, 19, is accused of signing and submitting the former roommate's absentee ballot, apparently because of a personal dispute between the two.

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/10/27/orono-woman-charged-with-submitting-fraudulent-ballot/

The Maine Attorney General’s Office has filed criminal charges against a 19-year-old woman who allegedly signed and voted a former roommate’s ballot as her own, a type of case that state officials described as extremely rare.

Local election officials in Orono discovered the potential violation before the ballot was processed. A spokesman for the AG’s office said it appears that election tampering was not the motive.

“It appears that the motive behind the crime was a personal dispute between former roommates, rather than an effort to influence the outcome of the election,” Marc Malon wrote in an email.

The complaint says Alyssa Dau of Orono is charged with two felonies: voting in the name of another and forging the name of another on an absentee ballot return envelope. Those charges, which are class-C felonies, are punishable by up to five years incarceration and a $5,000 fine. Dau allegedly voted using a ballot issued for Evangelia Suleiman.

Both the woman charged and the victim are students at the University of Maine.