“A Scottsdale woman has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of using her dead mother’s ballot to cast a vote in the November 2020 presidential election. Tracey Kay McKee is charged with one count of illegal voting and one count of perjury, for allegedly signing her mother’s name in the affidavit box on an early-ballot envelope. The rare voting fraud charges carry penalties of up to two and half years in prison. A spokesman for Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office, which brought the charges, said he wasn’t aware of similar prosecutions by the AG” NBC 12 reports.

“Neither McKee nor her lawyer, Tom Henze, responded to requests for comment. McKee’s indictment gives sparse details of the case against her. A timeline of the month before the election provides a clearer picture of what happened after McKee’s mother died. These key dates were pulled from voter registration records obtained by 12 News through a public records request: Oct. 5, 2020: McKee’s mother, Mary Deloyht Arendt, died at the age of 93. Arendt was a widely known watercolor artist who had lived in Paradise Valley for many years. Oct. 7: Two days after Arendt’s death, early ballots for the presidential election were mailed to Arizona voters on the Permanent Early Voting List. Both Arendt and McKee were on PEVL. They listed the same home address for early ballots on their voter registration cards. Oct. 24: McKee’s mail-in ballot was received by the Maricopa County Elections Office. Her late mother’s mail-in ballot was also returned the same day, 19 days after she died. According to the indictment, McKee ‘not being entitled to vote, knowingly voted’ and ‘knowingly signed the name of (Mary Arendt) to a declaration under penalty of perjury located on the November 3, 2020, General Election early ballot envelope for deceased elector (Mary Arendt).’ McKee has been a registered Republican for the last two decades. Arendt was a Republican for at least 35 years.”