Three Philly Election Officials Face Voter Fraud Charges

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Three people have been charged with voter fraud in two separate cases stemming from the 2015 and 2014 Philadelphia primary elections.

• Robin Trainor and Laura Murtaugh are both charged in a 2015 incident in which Trainor allegedly guided her husband’s vote, voted in her son’s place, and received Murtaugh’s help doing so.

According to the District Attorney’s office:

When interviewed, witnesses said that they saw Robin Trainor, who was serving as the division’s Judge of Elections, go into the voting booth with her husband, William Trainor Sr. After a short time, the witnesses said that they saw Robin Trainor come out of the booth, talk to Laura Murtaugh who was the division’s Minority Elections Inspector and sign the Election District Register under the name William Trainor Jr. She then went and reset the voting machine and returned to the voting booth with her husband. After examining the Election District Register, William Trainor’s signature did not match the officially known registration signature, and when interviewed, Robin Trainor said that she went into the voting booth to tell her husband who to vote for and then signed the Election District Register as her son in order to cast a second vote.

• Cheryl Ali was  charged with voting in place of a relative in 2014:

When asked, Cheryl Ali admitted that she voted on behalf of her mother because she was ill. After examining the Election District Register, Ali’s mother’s signature did not match the officially known registration signature. Ali had previously voted for herself at the 36th Ward 40th Division. Ali served as the 36th Ward 8th Division’s Machine Inspector for the following general election despite not living in that division.

Trainor is charged with forgery, tampering with public records, conspiracy, repeat voting at elections, interference with primaries and elections, fraud, conspiracy, fraud by election officers, unlawful assistance in voting, and failure to perform duty. Murtaugh is charged with interference with primaries and elections, fraud, conspiracy, fraud by election officers, and failure to perform duty. Ali is charged with forgery, tampering with public records or information, and repeat voting at elections.

“I continue to be outraged that our election officials, after they clearly know the rules, think that they can just walk into the voting booth and vote multiple times or vote as someone else,” District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement. “What these three have done is clearly a crime and will be prosecuted. I hope that their wrongdoing reminds everyone who is entrusted with putting on and protecting our elections that my Election Fraud Task Force is real and will continue to find and arrest people who break our election laws.”

Trainor, Murtaugh and Ali turned themselves in today.

The District Attorney’s statement is below.

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