According to a local newspaper, the Republican Rensselaer County, New York, elections board commissioner is due to enter a guilty plea after being charged with engaging in a blatant conspiracy that allowed him to cast votes in other people’s names.
According to the Albany Times Union, which cited an unnamed source, Jason Schofield, 43, of Troy, is slated to enter a guilty plea on January 11 as part of a deal that includes a commitment to help with a comprehensive federal investigation.
The “change of plea hearing” was scheduled for January 11 in a court docket entry from December 13 but did not state Schofield’s intended plea.
A 12-count indictment led to his arrest in September.
According to court documents, Schofield requested absentee ballots for people who did not wish to cast a vote.
According to prosecution records, he sometimes directly persuaded voters to sign absentee ballot envelopes, positioning himself or his allies to engage in voter fraud in the primary and general elections last year.
At least four voters who were instructed to sign ballot envelopes but were not permitted to complete them had their votes counted, according to court documents.
Troy, about seven miles northeast of the center of Albany, is where you can find the Rensselaer County elections, board.
The Albany office of the U.S. attorney declined to comment on Wednesday.
Schofield’s attorney, Danielle Neroni, declined to comment for this article immediately but told the Times Union that her client would “be retiring from his job” in conjunction with his intended change of plea.
The Times Union reported earlier this year that Schofield had been subpoenaed in conjunction with a thorough investigation that resulted in a Troy city councilwoman’s guilty plea to an identity theft charge.
A swing county, Rensselaer County voted for President Biden in 2020 and former President Donald Trump in 2016.
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