Former Rensselaer County Elections Commissioner Sentenced for Identity Theft

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Jason Schofield, age 45, of Troy, New York, was sentenced today to 1 year of probation, and to pay a $2,000 fine and a $1,200 special assessment, for unlawfully using the names and dates of birth of voters to fraudulently apply for absentee ballots for elections held in Rensselaer County in 2021.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

Schofield was an Elections Commissioner at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections ("RCBOE") from April 2018 until December 2022, when he resigned in anticipation of his guilty plea.

In pleading guilty to a 12-count indictment, Schofield admitted that in 2021, he unlawfully possessed and used the names and dates of birth of voters in connection with 12 absentee ballot applications he submitted in the voters' names to the New York State Voter Absentee Ballot Application Request Portal.

Schofield admitted that for each application, he falsely certified that he was the voter requesting the ballot. He also admitted that he took personal possession of 9 of these ballots, while knowing and intending that RCBOE records would falsely reflect that the ballots had been mailed to the voters.

The FBI investigated this case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett prosecuted it.