Minnesota's election safeguards stopped a voter fraud scheme in its tracks, secretary of state says

MINNEAPOLIS — Two people have been charged with conspiracy to commit voter registration fraud in a case that shows Minnesota's election safeguards work and prevented anyone from voting illegally, Secretary of State Steve Simon said Friday.

The charges announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office allege that Ronnie Williams and Lorraine Lee Combs generated fictitious names and other data they used to fill out Minnesota voter registration forms in 2021 and 2022.

The charging documents, filed in federal court on Tuesday, say Williams provided the completed forms to an entity that sought to register voters in Minnesota that is identified only as ''Foundation 1,'' which paid him, and that he then split the proceeds with Combs.

The documents also indicate that others were involved in the alleged conspiracy, serving as intermediaries between Williams and ''Foundation 1,'' which would submit the false registration forms to election offices across the state ''through its agents,'' but charges against them have not been announced.

Williams and Combs were longtime romantic partners, according to the documents, which don't say how much they were paid.

The charges are the result of a two-year investigation by the FBI and the Secretary of State's Office and are punishable by up to five years in prison.

''The extensive checks in Minnesota's voter registration process ensured that the fraudulent applications were immediately flagged, and no ineligible votes were cast,'' Simon said in a statement.

While voter fraud does happen occasionally, the country's processes provide many safeguards that generally keep it detectable and rare. When it happens, it tends to get caught and prosecuted.

''Election fraud strikes at the heart of our democracy,'' Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said in a separate statement. ''Thankfully, the FBI stopped this fraud in its tracks, before anyone successfully cast a fraudulent ballot. But we will stay vigilant.''

Court documents suggest that the two defendants plan to plead guilty. They were charged by complaints instead of grand jury indictments, which are normally needed to take a case to trial in federal court. And the case dockets show that Williams has a plea agreement hearing set for July 8, while Combs has a change of plea hearing on June 24.

Attorneys for Williams and Combs declined to comment on the charges. The announcement from prosecutors said the two are Nevada residents who formerly lived in Minnesota. Neither has a listed phone number in either state.

But Combs told the Minnesota Star Tribune that she filled out roughly 500 forms as part of the operation and turned them over to Williams. She told the newspaper that she didn't know the name of the foundation, and she didn't know how many applications Williams completed illegally.

Simon's office said local officials used verification tools that are built into the state's voter registration system to identify inconsistencies on the forms, then immediately reported them to law enforcement and his office. The office then worked with every county election office to confirm that all fraudulent registration attempts would be detected and confirm that no ballots were wrongly requested or cast.

''Our message to would-be fraudsters is clear: If you try to trick or scheme your way into registering voters in Minnesota, you will be caught and prosecuted,'' Simon said.