MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man who requested a mail-in ballot for his wife who died in 2018 said he just "wanted to test the system,” according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the local supervisor of elections contacted them on Sept. 17 about possible voter fraud after they received a request for a mail-in ballot for Ursula Wiggins, who has been dead for two years, and noticed that the signature on the form didn’t match the signature on her prior voter registration records.
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A search was conducted that showed the woman’s address was the same as her husband’s, Larry Wiggins, and he, too, had requested a mail-in ballot and the signature on his form matched the signature on his late wife’s form, according to authorities.
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Deputies said they went to Wiggins' home in Sarasota and Wiggins said he had seen recent reports on TV about voter fraud with mail-in ballots and he “wanted to test the system.”
Records show Wiggins admitted to filling out the mail-in ballot request form for his wife.
He’s facing voting violation charges, however, Wiggins told WFLA that he just wanted to send in the form to see if the elections office would actually send back a ballot for his late wife.
“I heard so much about ballots being sent in and people just having found them in different places,” Wiggins told the TV station. “I feel like I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Wiggins, a Democrat who supports President Donald Trump, said he didn’t attempt to forge his wife’s signature on the form and he wasn’t planning on voting on her behalf.
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