Peace Corps Director Indicted On 4 Vote Fraud Charges In NH

CONCORD, NH — A Washington, D.C., woman has been indicted on four voter fraud charges after being accused of wrongfully registering to vote in New Hampshire in 2016 and voting during the 2018 general election, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

Mary Kate Lowndes, 57, was indicted on a felony wrongful voting charge, two counts of misdemeanor wrongful voting, and a single count of misusing an absentee ballot.

According to prosecutors, Lowndes filed a voter registration form in 2016 claiming to be domiciled at a shopping center on Crystal Avenue in Derry when she actually lived outside of New Hampshire, a misdemeanor charge. Investigators accused her of requesting and receiving an absentee ballot in the Nov. 6, 2018, general election and then casting that ballot. Those accusations constitute a felony and two misdemeanor charges, the state said Friday, due to "knowingly (submitting) a voter registration form containing false material information regarding her qualifications as a voter, and also for a person to make a false material statement regarding her qualifications as a voter when obtaining an official ballot."

The indictment was handed down by the state's Multicounty Grand Jury Sept. 18. An arraignment date has not been set.

Lowndes faces six to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. If she is convicted, she will lose any future right to vote in New Hampshire.

According to her LinkedIn and Facebook accounts, Lowndes has been the chief of operations, volunteer recruitment and selection for the Peace Corps since May. Previously, she held the positions of Inter-America and Pacific Region and Country Director, Eastern Caribbean since 2015. Lowndes also worked for the org for five years between 1996 and 2001 in the Dominican Republic and volunteered for the org in Honduras between 1989 and 1991. For more than seven years, she was the director of development and special initiatives for the Connecticut Commission on Children.

Lowndes appears to have no connection to New Hampshire in any way, according to information online.

It is unknown which political party, if any, Lowndes was accused of registering with at the time but according to her Facebook site, she is a supporter of both Joe Biden and the Black Lives Matter organization. Lowndes did not return an instant message via Facebook requesting comment about the case however, about 12 hours after receiving the instant message, she scrubbed her Facebook page of all personal information.

The Peace Corps press office did not return a request for comment about the case before post time.

The Lowndes indictment is just one of a number of cases being eyed by the Elections Law Unit at the attorney general's office as it sifts through thousands of voter affidavits filed in New Hampshire as well as complaints and other anomalies tracked by officials and the public.

Vincent Marzello of West Lebanon was arrested on a felony charge earlier this month after being accused of voting twice in the 2016 general election — once in his own name and a second time as a female persona he is accused of creating for himself.

Coleman McDonough of Newburyport, Massachusetts, was arrested in June accused of 70 criminal charges involving illegally registering vehicles in Atkinson as well as voter fraud and title fraud charges.

In June of last year, Todd Krysiak of Alton was arrested accused of voting in both New Hampshire and Leominster, MA, in the 2016 general election. According to court documents, he has elected to go to trial on the charge. Sept. 10, he requested a motion to continue the jury selection process until Spring 2021.

In April 2019, Robert Bell of Atkinson was arrested for voting in New Hampshire and Florida during the 2018 general election. About six months later, he was found guilty, lost his right to vote, and was fined $1,240.

In an effort to dampen voter fraud and nonresidents voting in New Hampshire, recent state laws have been approved requiring new residents, out-of-state college students, and "visiting professionals," who vote in New Hampshire to establish residency within 60 days of voting by changing their driver's licenses and car registrations, if they are registered or licensed out of state. College students and others can also file absentee ballots from their homes to vote, where they actually live, if they do not want to become residents of New Hampshire.

After a number of lawsuits were filed about the state law changes, the state Supreme Court deemed the changes to state law requiring voters to establish some form of residency as constitutional.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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