Minneapolis Man Convicted In Voting Fraud Case

MINNEAPOLIS — A 25-year-old Minneapolis man was sentenced to 90 days in the Hennepin County workhouse this month after he pleaded guilty to four counts of "intentionally making or signing a false certificate" in the submission of the absentee voting ballots.

Abdihakim A. Essa faced a total of 13 counts in court before he filed a guilty plea.

On July 20, 2018, an election worker approached Essa at the Hennepin County Government Center after he was seen with different women who were registering to vote.

Essa admitted to the worker that he had been witnessing absentee ballots by signing his father’s name — "Aar" — because he wasn't a United States citizen, according to the criminal complaint.

Essa also admitted that he worked for a campaign, police said. Authorities did not publicly reveal the campaign Essa claimed to work for.

Following that encounter, election officials inspected about 9,000 different absentee ballots to see if Essa had signed his or his father’s name as witness to the absentee ballot.

Officials found 13 absentee ballots that Essa either signed as witness with his own name or that of his father, according to the criminal complaint.

The voters of the 13 identified absentee ballots were sent letters informing them that their ballots had been rejected and that they would need to vote again. None of the 13 people voted after the letters were sent.