A New York Democrat was charged with voter fraud for his actions during a 2022 Democratic primary, in which, according to the District Attorney's Office, he allegedly submitted 20 falsified absentee ballot applications. The suspect was identified as Abdul Rahman, who, if convicted of the 140 charges against him, could face up to 7 years in prison.

The 32-year-old resides in the Floral Park neighborhood of Queens and was described by Gothamist as being "active in Democratic and South Asian circles."

According to the DA's press release, Rahman had applied to collect 118 ballots for area voters and got approval for 32 of the 118 ballot requests. However, they did not clarify which candidate those votes were for.

"Every vote has to count. Election integrity is the foundation of a viable, working democracy. We will vigorously prosecute anyone who threatens in any way to undermine that integrity. To investigate and prosecute anyone for voter fraud takes time and resources I am willing to commit," said the prosecutor in the case, Melinda Katz.

The Jordan Sandke case

One of the aggrieved voters was Jordan Sandke, who reached out to assert his voice in the Democratic primary but was surprised when he was told he had already applied for his absentee ballot.

"Sandke, however, had not filled out, signed or submitted the application, and said he had never met the defendant or authorized him to pick up an absentee ballot on his behalf," explained the aforementioned press release. Investigators also established that Rahman was listed as the person authorized to pick up Sandke's ballot.

In addition, authorities interviewed other voters in the same situation and discovered that "none of them had submitted the form, let alone authorized Rahman to pick up a ballot on their behalf."

"The Board of Elections in the City of New York is proud to once again have identified and referred an election integrity issue to law enforcement," Board of Elections Deputy Executive Director Vincent Ignizio said in a statement.

"Our government partners in the Queens District Attorney's Office did an amazing job at investigating this case and bringing it to indictment. Protecting our democracy and the elections process is the responsibility of all Americans — and the Board is grateful to District Attorney Melinda Katz and her staff for all of their efforts in this investigation," he added.