Iowa GOP official’s wife convicted in long-running voter-fraud scheme

As Tam and Thien Doan tried to file for absentee ballots in Iowa in 2020, they were surprised to find out that votes had already been cast in their names. The siblings, both Democrats, were even more astonished to learn their ballots had been cast in support of Republican candidates only, including President Donald Trump, according to court testimony.

Unbeknownst to the Doans, they were among a group of Vietnamese immigrants targeted in a monthslong voter-fraud scheme by the wife of an Iowa Republican county supervisor who wanted her husband to win “by any means necessary” in the 2020 primary and general elections, according to prosecutors.

Kim Phuong Taylor was convicted Tuesday of 52 counts of voter fraud, the Justice Department announced. A federal jury in Sioux City, Iowa, found Taylor, 49, guilty on 26 charges of false information in registering and voting, 23 charges of fraudulent voting and three charges of fraudulent registration.

Taylor carried out a scheme to fraudulently generate votes for her husband, Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor, who was challenging Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, in the June 2020 congressional GOP primary election. After Jeremy Taylor finished a distant third, Kim Phuong Taylor again engaged in ballot fraud to help her husband’s successful reelection campaign as county supervisor, prosecutors say.

“[Kim Phuong] Taylor submitted or caused others to submit dozens of voter registrations, absentee ballot request forms, and absentee ballots containing false information,” the Justice Department wrote in a news release. “Taylor completed and signed voter forms without voters’ permission and told others that they could sign on behalf of relatives who were not present.”

Kim Phuong Taylor was arrested and indicted in January. She faces a maximum of five years in prison for each of the 52 counts.