Iron Range woman charged with voting twice

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. — An Itasca County woman faces three felony charges after allegedly attempting to vote twice in the general election.

A criminal complaint says Danielle Christine Miller, 40, of rural Nashwauk, Minn., admitted to filling out and submitting an absentee ballot for her mother, who died in August. The fraudulent submission was flagged by election officials before it could be counted.

“The defendant admitted her deceased mother was an avid Donald Trump supporter and had wanted to vote for Trump in this election but had passed shortly before the absentee ballots were received,” according to the complaint filed last week in State District Court.

The Itasca County Auditor’s Office said it received sealed ballot envelopes containing signatures for Miller and her mother, Rose Marie Javorina, on Oct. 7. But Javorina had died Aug. 31, according to the Minnesota Vital Statistics death report, so the matter was referred to the Itasca County Sheriff’s Office.

The complaint notes that the envelopes contain sections to be filled out by a voter and a witness. The voter must certify that they “meet all legal requirements to vote” as of Election Day, and the witness must provide their name and address and certify that the ballot was filled out by the voter.

Authorities said Miller was listed as the witness on Javorina’s ballot, and Javorina was listed as the witness on Miller’s. Both listed their street address as County Road 54, north of Nashwauk.

The sheriff’s office reviewed the signatures and determined they appeared similar, as well as matching the signature on Miller’s driver’s license.

Absentee ballots had been mailed Sept. 20, about three weeks after Javorina’s death.

In an interview, Miller allegedly admitted she filled out both ballots and falsified the witness sections, citing her late mother’s desire to vote for the Republican presidential nominee.

Miller is charged with two counts of signing a false certificate and one count of casting an illegal vote. She was given a summons to appear in court Dec. 4.

Trump has pushed false and misleading claims of widespread voter fraud since he first ran in 2016, particularly after losing the 2020 election. However, experts say cases are exceedingly rare and there is no evidence of systematic fraud.

After the 2020 election, the Associated Press found fewer than 475 possible instances among 25.5 million votes cast in six swing states. The conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database with just 1,561 “proven instances of voter fraud” nationwide over several decades — including 138 cases in Minnesota from 2004-22.