A Limestone woman is facing jail time for allegedly voting twice in the 2024 election.
A grand jury in March unanimously indicted Karen Theriault, 46, on one count of voting twice in the same election, a Class C felony.
She is set to be arraigned at Caribou District Court on Thursday. If convicted, Theriault faces up to five years in prison and fines up to $5,000.
It’s a rare case of voter fraud in Maine, state officials said.
Prosecutors allege Theriault knowingly voted twice under her own name in the November 2024 election, a ballot that notably contained a U.S. presidential election, U.S. and Maine Senate races and a slate of state referendums.
Theriault is a registered Republican, according to her voter registration card on file at the Limestone Town Office.
Court documents do not specify how Theriault allegedly voted twice, but charges indicate she did not vote using another person’s name.
Maine’s ineligible voting law specifies that Class C crimes include a person voting or attempting to vote after already voting once, knowing they are ineligible or using another person’s name.
The elections division of the Maine secretary of state’s office referred the case to the state attorney general’s office, one of two voter fraud cases brought to prosecutors related to the 2024 election, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said in a statement.
“These cases are exceedingly rare – there were two cases resulting in a prosecution in 2020 – but they show that the system works,” Bellows said. “Any suspicion of voting fraud will be investigated, and if found valid, will be prosecuted.”
Bellows did not specify the other case.
