UPDATED: GV couple indicted on voting fraud

A Green Valley couple has been indicted for voting in more than one state during the 2008 presidential election, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Arizona.

James A. Marshall, 63, and Karen S. Marshall, 56, both of Green Valley and formerly of Independence, Kan., have each been charged with two counts of fraudulent voting and one count of conspiracy to commit fraudulent voting, the U.S. attorney said.

The pair is accused of voting by early ballot in both Arizona and Kansas.

James Marshall said he was not yet aware of the charges when reached by telephone Thursday afternoon, but that he and his wife had indeed voted in both states by mistake.

“Yes, we had a problem with that,” he said, but he declined to comment further.

The indictment, handed down on Wednesday, alleges that the Marshalls “did knowingly and unlawfully conspire, confederate, and agree together with each other to knowingly and willfully deprive, defraud, and attempt to deprive and defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process.”

The charges came to light after an FBI investigation.

Pima County Registrar Chris Roads said FBI agents investigating the Marshalls would not say how they were tipped off to inspect the couple’s voting record, but Amy Bjelland, the state election director, said she understood that the Marshalls had told others they had voted in two states, which led to the FBI investigation.

The couple moved to Green Valley in May 2008 but registered to vote in Montgomery County, Kan. the following July by affirming they were still Kansas residents, the indictment says. In August 2008, they applied for Arizona driver’s licenses and registered to vote in the state, listing their Green Valley address as their permanent residence, according to the indictment.

Around Sept. 15, 2008 they applied for a vote-by-mail ballot from Pima County and the next day requested an advance voting ballot from Montgomery County, Kan., representing that they were permanent residents of each state on the respective ballots, according to the indictment.

The indictments says that around October 11, they filled out and returned their Pima County ballot, signing a sworn statement that they “have not voted and will not vote in this election in any other state during the calendar year of this affidavit” and that they “understand that knowingly voting more than once in any election year is a class 5 felony.”

Then, around October 22, they voted again by mailing in their Kansas early ballot, according to the indictment.

F. Ann Rodriguez, the Pima County recorder, said the pair registered as Republicans and had never voted in Arizona prior to 2008.

They were also registered Republicans in Kansas, said Charlotte Scott Schmidt, the Montgomery County clerk.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Marshalls are scheduled to be arraigned at the U.S. District Court in Tucson on Aug. 6.