A Canadian foreign national was indicted on multiple counts of voter fraud after participating in nine Alabama elections, according to Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey.
Franc Neil Maloney, 71, of Trafford, is charged with four counts of felony voter fraud. Maloney was also indicted last year on 191 counts of child pornography. Casey said those charges are unrelated to the voting fraud charges.
Casey said she investigated a list released by Secretary of State Wes Allen showing how many illegally registered non-citizens had voted in Alabama. Her findings were presented to a Blount County grand jury, where Maloney was indicted.
“I’m telling you that this prosecution is not about politics of political parties,” Casey said in a press conference Friday morning. “It's about the rule of law. And whether you vote Republican, Democrat or independent, in Alabama and in the United States, only American citizens are allowed to vote, and the rule of law protects the voice of every lawful voter. When a non-citizen votes, that vote cancels out the voice of a legal American voter. That undermines our public trust and the legitimacy of our elections.”
The grand jury recommended that the Alabama Code be amended to specifically exclude foreign natural driver's licenses as a valid form of voter identification and recommended a law requiring voter identification to register to vote. Casey said the case has highlighted changes that need to be made.
“What this case shows is that our system has vulnerabilities,” said Casey. “Right now, a person can lawfully have an Alabama driver's license even if they're not a U.S. citizen. That's not a problem. The problem is there's nothing in our system that's clearly finding that status when the license is used for voting at the polls.”
Maloney is considered innocent until proven guilty.
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