A Long Island voter pretended to be someone else to cast an extra ballot in the 2024 election but his scheme was exposed when the resident he impersonated showed up on Election Day, cops said.
Lindenhurst resident Christopher Lindenberg, 54, was slapped with felony voter fraud charges for allegedly submitting a mail-in ballot under another person’s name before voting legally a second time, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
Lindenberg had requested the early mail-in ballot through an online portal for another person without their knowledge last October.
The county Board of Elections initially counted the fraudulent vote but authorities first got suspicious when the real individual showed up to vote on Election Day and was turned away, the DA said.
It’s unclear if Lindenberg knew the person before the scheme. It’s also unclear whom the fraudulent ballot was cast for, but Lindenberg was a registered Republican, according to state records.
Lindenberg was arraigned Monday on a first-degree charge of offering a false instrument for filing and falsifying business records in the first degree.
He was released without bail because the charges are non-eligible and is due back in court on May 21.
“Confidence in electoral systems is integral to a free society,” Tierney said in a statement.
