Elderly Miami woman admits to voter fraud. But will she get jail time?
Now, a judge must decide whether to give 74-year-old
Prosecutors want six months behind bars. Her defense lawyer is arguing for no time in jail.
"This is a very serious case,"
Milián will decide a sentence on
In a case that got national attention, Coego was arrested for voter fraud just weeks before the November election. It was a campaign season marked by heightened sensitivity after then-presidential candidate
Although there's never been any evidence of widespread voter fraud in
Coego's case mirrors that of a woman in
Coego was arrested along with another low-level campaigner,
Coego's crime was much more egregious.
She was hired by a temp agency to work as an elections support specialist, to be paid
According to police, fellow workers saw her marking absentee ballots for
She did not have any connections to the Regalado campaign, authorities said. The evidence against Coego was significant, pushing her to admit to two felony counts of marking another voter's absentee ballot.
Assistant Public Defender
But public-corruption prosecutor
"The defendant did not just alter one ballot," Helfmeyer wrote. "Over the course of two days, the defendant repeatedly and unlawfully voted in the mayoral election, against the wishes of the legitimate electors."
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