Charges filed in father-son voter fraud case

EAST GOSHEN » A Willistown man’s clumsy attempt at trying to cast a false ballot in the 2020 presidential election has led to one of the only verified instances in Chester County of alleged voter fraud.

Police on Monday filed criminal charges against Ralph Holloway Thurman for allegedly attempting to vote as another person — his own son — before being discovered by an alert poll worker who recognized him as having voted a short time earlier.

Thurman, who had not been arraigned by District Judge Thomas Tartaglio as of Thursday, was charged with four criminal counts, including forgery, identity theft, forging or destroying ballots, all misdemeanors, and repeat voting at elections, a thirddegree felony.

He could not be reached for comment. It was unknown as to whether he had an attorney.

Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan said her office had not been contacted about any other voting problem on Election Day.

“We are unaware of any other concerns that rose to a criminal investigation or charge,” Ryan said in an email. “We were very impressed by the civility and respect everyone demonstrated on this important day.”

The Pennsylvania election has been mired in controversy since before voting began on Tuesday, Nov. 3, with the political parties arguing over how to conduct the new mail-in balloting enacted by the General Assembly in 2019, how to count ballots, and which ballots should be allowed in the final official results.

The Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to have hundreds of thousands of ballots declared impermissible, including thousands from Chester County. That lawsuit involves the process of voting, but Trump surrogates have also claimed, without evidence, that fraudulent votes had been cast for former Vice President Joe Biden.

On Saturday, the Associated Press and several other news organizations declared that Biden had triumphed over President Donald Trump and had become the president-elect. Trump has pushed back at this projection, saying that the vote had been rigged and that the election had been stolen from him. The president and many of his supporters

contend that he had indeed prevailed and should be allowed to continue his White House run.

On Thursday, with 99 percent of the state’s votes counted, Biden was leading Trump by about 54,000 votes, with 3,390,729 to Trump’s 3,336,751. All votes are unofficial until certified.

In Chester County, the Office of Voter Services has Biden leading Trump 57 percent to 40 percent, with 179,560 votes to 127,213 votes. The county is still counting provisional and mail-in ballots to reach final results.

It is against that backdrop that Officer William Viebahn on Monday filed the unusual criminal complaint at the 71-year-old Thurman, who lives not far from the Ashbridge Preserve Park in the township.

According to the complaint, Viebahn was called at about 10:45 a.m. on Election Day and told that there had been a subject identified as Thurman making false statements and attempting to vote twice.

Viebahn said that Thurman came to the South-1 precinct polling place at the Sugartown Elementary School earlier that day and asked whether he had to produce an identification card to vote. He was told that he did not, and only had to sign the voter registration log so long as he was not a first-time voter. Thurman then allegedly asked whether he could vote for his son, Kyle Thurman, but was told by poll worker Eric Frank that doing so would be illegal.

Thurman signed the register, was given a ballot, voted, and left the polling place, according to the complaint.

However, about 45 minutes later, Thurman reportedly returned to the precinct, this time wearing sunglasses, and identified himself as his son. He again signed the voter log, was given a ballot, and proceeded to vote, Viebahn wrote.

But Frank recognized Thurman as having been the man who had voted earlier and alerted the Judge of Election, his father, David Frank. When David Frank attempted to speak with him, Thurman “hurriedly fled the building,” the complaint states.

Both Franks provided a written statement to what they said had occurred, and the younger Frank provided a photograph of the voter lines at the polling place. Viebahn said he checked with Assistant District Attorney Daniel Hollander, who was on duty that day for reports of voting irregularities, and that he approved the charges.

Both Thurman’s are registered voters in the township, although their voting record is somewhat spotty, with the elder man voting about a quarter of the time and his son only half that. Ralph Thurman is a registered Republican, while Kyle Thurman is a registered Democrat. Kyle Thurman is not accused of any wrongdoing in the incident.

There is no way of knowing for which candidate either the first or the second was cast. According to the county’s unofficial returns, Biden led Trump in the precinct where the incident occurred, 315 votes to 275 votes. The former vice president captured Willistown, a traditional Republican stronghold, 4,571 votes to 3,386 votes.

No date has been set for a preliminary hearing.