2020 elections official charged with felony voter fraud

FPI / September 9, 2020

A New Hampshire Democrat who was appointed by the party to be a 2020 elections official has been arrested and charged with a felony for voting twice during the 2016 election.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office announced that Vincent Marzello, also known as Helen Elisabeth Ashley, was charged with a Class B Felony for "knowingly voting more than once" during the Nov. 8, 2016 General Election. The alleged perpetrator voted once as Vincent Marzello and once as Helen Elisabeth Ashley, the state AG's office said.

Marzello's arrest was due in large part to an investigation by Project Veritas.

"Only after Project Veritas filmed Vincent Marzello, did it come to light the State Police reported the case to the AG's office nearly a year ago. It appears while simultaneously cooperating with the state Democratic Party to save face for appointing an admitted double voter, as an election inspector, the AG's office refused to prosecute until Project Veritas forced their hand by storming their office yesterday," said Project Veritas Founder and CEO James O'Keefe said on Sept. 3.

"The arrest of Marzello is a direct result of a Project Veritas investigation. Why does the AG's office wait until Project Veritas investigates to act on fraudulent behavior?"

The New Hampshire Democratic Party had appointed Helen Elisabeth Ashley as an Inspector of Election.

State Deputy Attorney General Jane Young told the New Hampshire Union Leader that O’Keefe was the reason for Marzello's arrest.

“Without the involvement of Project Veritas, would we have brought the case today? Likely not. We have a couple more voter cases and in the run up to the presidential election, we are giving them to more than just the one attorney we have in the election law unit,” Young said. “We are reallocating; we recognize when these come in, we should do them quicker; we will do better.”

Project Veritas reported that it presented New Hampshire officials with Marzello’s admission that he voted in the same election as himself and as Helen Elisabeth Ashley, a character he invented. It was Marzello’s efforts to secure the voter ID for his Ashley character that triggered the investigation and that fraudulent voter ID was part of the case file.

New Hampshire State Police Trooper 1st Class James Decker told Project Veritas he investigated Marzello for double voting after Marzello attempted to secure the second photo ID required by the state's 2012 voter integrity law. The trooper specializes as a fraud inspector with an emphasis in false and stolen identities.

"…I can tell you that about little more than a year ago, I was alerted to a call where somebody was trying to fraudulently obtain a voter ID card. This person had shown up at--I believe--it was a Claremont DMV office and a voucher for a New Hampshire voter ID card. Something seemed amiss. They had, they claimed to have no other, no other ID, and seemed a little bit suspicious," the trooper said.

New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald told Project Veritas he is restructuring how the state’s Justice Department handles voter fraud cases after O’Keefe called out the state's initial failure to act on the voter fraud case against Marzello.

“James, we need to do better. We do,” admitted MacDonald. “When something like this happens, it's really important to assess how we can do better.”

Free Press International