Foundation submitted voter registration applications with fake IDs, charges say

A foundation paid for voter registration applications to be filled out with names of nonexistent people and submitted them to county election offices in Minnesota, according to federal charges against a Twin Cities couple.

Lorraine Lee Combs, 57, and Ronnie Williams, 58, both of West St. Paul, were charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis with conspiracy to engage in voter registration fraud.

They are accused of selling hundreds of voter registration forms they completed with fake identities in 2021 and 2022.

Combs and Williams, who are described in the charges as longtime romantic partners, were charged through a judicial process called information, which indicates to the court their intention to plead guilty.

The charging documents do not identify the foundation involved, other than to say it was engaged in a voter registration campaign.

“There were no ballots cast in connection with this,” said Cassondra Knudson, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections in the state.

In an interview Thursday with the Minnesota Star Tribune, Combs said she filled out roughly 500 forms as part of the scheme and turned them over to Williams.

Combs said she was “basically, just a third party” and did not know the name of the foundation. She did not say how much money she was paid.

She said she didn’t know how many applications Williams illegally completed or if any fraudulent voters were cast because of their actions.

Combs is scheduled to make her first court appearance on June 24, and Williams is due in court Monday. His attorney declined to comment about the allegations.

According to the charges, Williams and Combs made up names, addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers to fill out voter registration applications.

They would then sign a form certifying they understood that giving such false information was a felony with punishment of up to five years in prison or a fine of $10,000 or both.

On one application in September 2022, Combs used the name “Brad Montly” and “Harry Jhonson” about a month later.

Williams turned over the applications to intermediaries who gave them to the foundation, which “would submit these false voter registration applications to county election offices across the state of Minnesota.”

The foundation paid Williams for the applications, and he would split the money with Combs. The charges did not say how much money was involved, or specify which election offices received the applications and whether they raised suspicions.

A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman declined to disclose further details about the investigation beyond what is alleged in the charges.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon has consistently defended the integrity of elections in Minnesota, amid unsubstantiated suspicions of widespread election fraud aired by President Donald Trump and his allies. During the 2020 election cycle, Simon said the system was “safe, secure and time-tested.”

Charges of illegal voting are filed from time to time in Minnesota, often involving people whose criminal records make them ineligible to cast a ballot.

Election contests decided by the narrowest margins are rare, but they do occur. Last November, two municipal elections in cities southwest of Duluth ended in a tie and needed low-tech solutions to determine the winners.

In Wrenshall, Mayor Gary Butala and challenger Jeff Bloom each collected 143 votes. Bloom prevailed when the City Council drew his name out of a hat.

In Kettle River, City Council candidates Patricia Lund and Laura Simi landed in a 33-33 tie. Playing cards were drawn, and Lund pulled the higher number.

More famously, Democratic challenger Al Franken defeated Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in their 2008 U.S. Senate election battle by 312 votes out of more than 2.9 million cast. Challenges to the vote count lasted several months and kept Franken from taking office until July 2009.