Marple Man Who Voted For Trump In Dead Mother's Name Sentenced

MARPLE, PA — A Delaware County man was hit with a probation sentence after he admitted to illegally voting for former President Donald Trump in the general election last year.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said Bruce Bartman, 70, of Marple Township, was sentenced to five years of probation on two counts of felony perjury and one count of unlawful voting.

In addition to probation, Bartman will lose his right to vote for four years.

Bartman's attorney Samuel Stretton said his client considered his illegal voting an act of civil disobedience.

"Of course, he was wildly mistaken," Stretton told Business Insider when the charges were announced.

The DA's office said Bartman's case is the only known instance of a "dead person" voting in the county.

Bartman used the personally identifiable information of deceased relatives to complete voter registration in their names and even cast a fraudulent vote in the name of his deceased mother.

Voter records show that on Aug. 20, 2020, Bartman used the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s online Voter Registration portal to register both his deceased mother, Elizabeth Bartman, and his deceased mother-in-law, Elizabeth Weihman, who died in 2019.

Bartman is a registered Republican, and he illegally registered both deceased individuals as Republican voters.

Bartman subsequently sent an online request for an absentee ballot for his deceased mother which was received by the Delaware County Bureau of Elections on October 14, 2020.

The Bureau of Elections sent an absentee ballot to his deceased mother on Oct. 17, 2020.

On Oct. 28, 2020, the Bureau of Elections received and recorded the absentee ballot for the deceased Bartman and the vote it contained was counted in the tally for the Nov. 3, 2020 election.

Bartman admitted that he registered his deceased relatives as voters on Aug. 20, 2020 and subsequently requested, filled out, and sent in the absentee ballot for his deceased mother, with the intention for the vote on that ballot to be counted in the vote totals for the 2020 general election.

Bartman explained that he cast a vote in the name of his deceased mother to reelect President Donald J. Trump.