Keystone Today

A man in Delaware County has been charged with illegally voting in the place of his deceased mother in the Nov. 3 General Election.

In addition to voting as his dead mother, 70-year-old Bruce Bartman, a resident of Maple Township, also submitted a voter registration form for his deceased mother-in-law.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer made the announcement in a press release on Dec. 21.

“Respecting the integrity of our election process is the sacred duty of every American,” Stollsteimer wrote. “Our investigation has determined that Mr. Bartman intentionally and willfully violated election laws by registering two deceased individuals as voters and completed his criminal act by requesting and returning an absentee ballot for one of those individuals, his own mother, who died in 2008.”

Bartman used the online voter registration to register his deceased mother, Elizabeth Bartman and deceased mother-in-law Elizabeth Weihman, who died in 2019, as registered Republicans.

According to the press release, Bartman requested an absentee ballot online for his mother which was received by the Delaware County Bureau of Elections on Oct. 14. Three days later, Bartman received the absentee ballot and the Bureau of Elections recorded the absentee ballot for his mother. The vote was counted in the tally for the Nov. 3 election. 

Bartman admitted to the crime and said he did so in an effort to re-elect President Trump.