Judge: Vegas man’s vote fraud claim ‘cheap political stunt’

By KEN RITTER
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge says a Las Vegas man’s admission that he voted twice in November 2020 in a case that state Republicans seized on to claim voter irregularities amounted to “a cheap political stunt” that backfired. Judge Carli Kierny in Las Vegas said Tuesday that Donald “Kirk” Hartle’s guilty plea to voting twice in the same election shows the system actually works because he got caught. Hartle was accused of voting with a ballot that had been mailed to his dead wife. Hartle is chief financial officer of companies owned by state Republican party finance chairman Donald Ahern. He was fined $2,000 and sentenced to what amounts to a year of probation.