Germantown Woman Pleads Guilty to Trying to Vote Under Dead Mother’s Name

A 70-year-old Germantown woman pleaded guilty to trying to vote as her mother, who is no longer living, the Office of the State Prosecutor announced last week.

Linda Earlette Wells was sentenced to probation before judgment, according to the State Prosecutor’s office. The Gazette published the story Friday.

Prior to Election Day in 2012, Wells called the Montgomery County Board of Elections claiming to be Beatrice Wells—her mother, who died in 2011—prompting the county election board re-activate Beatrice Wells’ voter status, according to an indictment filed in July.

Linda Wells registered to vote in Florida and not in Maryland, court records state.

But she used her mother’s ID to cast a provisional ballot Nov. 6, 2012 at Roberto Clemente Middle School under the name of her deceased mother, according to court records.

The Gazette, citing records filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, reports that Linda Wells called the Board of Elections on Nov. 8 to say that she fraudulently voted under her mother’s name and had asked staff to retrieve her ballot and “rip it up.”

According to court records Patch obtained, Wells was told by Board of Elections staff that if she didn’t want her provisional ballot counted, she had to write a letter to the president of the Board of Elections.

The Montgomery County Board of Elections never received the letter, the court documents state. 

The provisional vote under Beatrice Wells’ name was not counted, according to the indictment.