Woman voted for Trump for dead mom, MN officials say. Her punishment is an essay

A woman convicted of casting a vote for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election under her deceased mother’s name will avoid jail time, a Minnesota court ruled.

Instead, 51-year-old Danielle Christine Miller will have to read a book about voting in the United States and write an essay about what she learned, court records show.

Miller’s attorney did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Oct. 23.

Deputies in Itasca County had been contacted by the county auditor in October 2024 “regarding possible voter fraud involving two separate absentee ballots,” according to a criminal complaint.

Officials had received two mail-in ballots, one from Miller and one from her mother, who died in August 2024, authorities said.

On Miller’s ballot, the witness section was signed using her mother’s name, deputies said. And on her mother’s ballot, investigators said Miller signed the witness section with her own name.

Deputies believed Miller signed both ballots herself, which Miller later admitted to doing in an interview with investigators, according to the complaint.

“The Defendant admitted her deceased mother was an avid Donald Trump supporter and had wanted to vote for Trump in this election but had passed shortly before the absentee ballots were received,” according to the court documents.

She was charged with two counts of absentee voting — intentionally making or signing a false certificate and absentee voting — casting an illegal vote or aiding another, which are both felonies, records show.

Miller was convicted of one of the making or signing a false certificate charges, and when she was sentenced Oct. 15, she avoided jail time.

As part of her sentencing, which included supervised probation, Miller is required to read the Erin Geiger Smith book, “Thank You For Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America,” according to the court records.

The book highlights the “past, present and future of voting” and the “fight for voting equality.”

“You must write a 10 page paper regarding the importance in voting in a democracy and how election fraud can undermine the voting process,” the judge said in Miller’s sentencing documentation.

In a statement to WCCO, Itasca County Attorney Jake Fauchald called the sentencing a “fair outcome.”

“I think the sentence that was imposed here is very much designed to help her better understand the importance of those things and make sure that she doesn’t — and quite frankly other people don’t — take the same type of actions in the future,” Fauchald said, according to the outlet.

Voter fraud and the security of mail-in ballots became a key talking point prior to the 2024 presidential election. Trump had falsely claimed his loss in the 2020 election was because of fraudulent voting.

In May, Trump signed an executive order that would overhaul elections, requiring documentary proof-of-citizenship for voting.

This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 8:41 AM with the headline "Woman voted for Trump for dead mom, MN officials say. Her punishment is an essay."