Thread: Wisconsin Man Admits He Cast Ballot for Obama for Dead Wife

Wisconsin Man Admits He Cast Ballot for Obama for Dead Wife

A Milwaukee man acknowledged Wednesday he illegally cast an absentee ballot in the name of his late wife to fulfill her dying wish -- to vote in the 2008 election.

AP

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

MADISON, Wis. -- A Milwaukee man acknowledged Wednesday he illegally cast an absentee ballot in the name of his late wife, who had hoped to live long enough to vote for Barack Obama.

Jacqueline Wroblewski was a veteran Democratic activist who died of lung cancer in August. Her husband of 25 years, Stephen Wroblewski, filled out paperwork to obtain and cast an absentee ballot in her name in late October.

"It was her dying wish to cast a ballot in the 2008 presidential election," according to a criminal complaint charging the 64-year-old Wroblewski with making a false statement to obtain an absentee ballot, a misdemeanor.

"She was such a Democrat and saw there was finally going to be a new administration. She really wanted to live long enough to vote," Wroblewski said Wednesday in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "But I still don't know why I did it. A grief counselor told me it was just a matter of keeping her close to me and not letting go."

Wroblewski cared for his wife for the last six months of her life in their home.

He recalled how she voted for Obama in Wisconsin's February 2008 primary even though she was undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Workers brought her a ballot and allowed her to vote from their car because she was too sick to get out, he said.

But Wroblewski said his wife, who volunteered for years as a poll worker, would have been appalled had she known he planned to vote under her name since she "was a stickler for the rules." That's why he sees some irony in the strange confluence of events that ended up with him getting caught and charged, he said.

Wroblewski cast his own ballot for Obama at the neighborhood polling place where his wife had helped run elections.

He said he became nervous after mailing his wife's ballot but thought the chances of getting caught were slim. But a volunteer poll worker who was processing absentee ballots in Milwaukee the night of the election happened to be a family friend.

"Out of 35,000 ballots, she pulls that one and blurts out that she knew my wife and that she was dead," Wroblewski said. "That was my wife from the grave saying, 'Look what you did, you stupid ass."'

Wroblewski turned himself in to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's office through his attorney the day after the election after reading in the newspaper that his wife's ballot was being challenged. The office charged him last month and released a copy of the complaint Wednesday.

Assistant Milwaukee County District Attorney Bruce Landgraf defended the decision to charge Wroblewski. His office previously declined to charge a Milwaukee woman who turned herself on Election Day after casting two absentee ballots but Landgraf said this case was different.
For starters, Wroblewski only turned himself in after he was caught, he said.

"Mr. Wroblewski committed a series of acts that were designed to have the effect of voting twice in the election," Landgraf said. "He forged his wife's signature. He lied about the fact that she was still alive. He stole her identity, if you will."

Wroblewski is unlikely to face jail time given his lack of a prior criminal record, he said. The charge carries a maximum of six months in prison.

Wroblewski's attorney, Jim Blask, said he advised his client to take the case to a trial because he would likely be acquitted. Jurors would have been sympathetic to Wroblewski, who was grieving and not thinking clearly at the time, he said.

"The man on the street would find his motives to be pure," he said. "Anyone who has ever been married realizes that sometimes you do things you otherwise wouldn't do because she's your wife. You might sign her checks or make purchases on her behalf. That's how Stephen felt toward Jackie."

But Wroblewski said he planned to plead guilty to end the embarrassing episode. He said he spent 12 hours in jail after he was booked on the charge last month and worries about potentially going back.

"I just wish they'd drop this whole thing," said Wroblewski, a retired sales representative for Time Warner, as was his wife. "The vote didn't even count."

Wroblewski was the fifth person charged with election-related crimes in Milwaukee County stemming from the presidential election. Charges against a sixth man, a felon who allegedly voted illegally, were filed this week. Dozens of other cases remain under investigation.

A Government Accountability Board survey of district attorneys released last week showed that only two other election cases were known to be filed statewide.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04 ... dead-wife/

After the 2000 election fiascos in Florida, I just guess we have to accept that dead people vote all the time.

Nothing surprises me anymore.

Originally Posted by vortex

After the 2000 election fiascos in Florida, I just guess we have to accept that dead people vote all the time.

Yea..along with their dog Tippy!

Guess what! This never would have made the press if the man had not been honest. If he has just said he didn't do it-it would have been brushed under the rug.

Dixie

"Out of 35,000 ballots, she pulls that one and blurts out that she knew my wife and that she was dead," Wroblewski said. "That was my wife from the grave saying, 'Look what you did, you stupid ass."'

Well, just imagine how many illegal ballots probably didn't get found out.