A man who used to live in Alexandria, Virginia, has been accused of turning in fraudulent voter registration forms. News4’s Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Julie Carey reports.
A former resident of Alexandria, Virginia, faces up to 40 years in prison after he allegedly used fake names to fill out voter registration applications.
Vafalay Massaquoi, 30, was charged with four felonies related to allegations of voter registration fraud, the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office said. Each charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
In spring 2016, Massaquoi was registering new voters as an employee of the New Virginia Majority, an advocacy group aligned with the Democratic party. According to the Commonwealth's Attorney, Massaquoi fabricated applications and used fake names to fill out the registration forms.
The New Virginia Majority said Massaquoi was fired in June.
"Protecting the integrity of our elections so they remain free, fair, and accessible remains New Virginia Majority’s top priority," the New Virginia Majority said in a statement Friday.
The fake applications were filed with the Alexandria Office of the General Registrar, who reported the issue to Commonwealth's Attorney Bryan Porter.
Porter said while the false applications were filed, no illegal votes were cast in this case.
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"Since the fraudulent applications involved fictitious people, had the fraud not been uncovered the risk of actual fraudulent votes being cast was low," Porter said.
An arrest warrant was filed for Massaquoi in July, but he had already moved out of the area. After a search, Massaquoi was arrested near Philadelphia and extradited to Alexandria Oct. 27.
Massaquoi appeared in court Friday morning and was being held without bond.
