Signatures tipped off Woodbury auditor to possible voter fraud

SIOUX CITY — Before the 2020 general election, a Woodbury County voter attending Iowa State University visited the Iowa Secretary of State Office's website to request an absentee ballot. But after entering her voter identification information, the student was informed she'd already voted.

The same thing happened to her brother, also an ISU student.

Both called Woodbury County Auditor and Election Commissioner Pat Gill to report that someone had cast ballots in their name.

Gill's office reviewed the signatures on the students' absentee requests, then compared them with those on requests filed in the students' names before the primary. All four forms appeared to have been signed by the same person.

"Those ballots during the primary, that stepped it up for me," Gill said at a news conference last week.

Gill said both the Secretary of State and then-Woodbury County Attorney Patrick Jennings advised him to report the incident to the FBI. Gill's report touched off an FBI investigation that came to light last Thursday, when Kim Phuong Taylor — the wife of Republican Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor — was arrested on 52 counts of election fraud. She has pleaded not guilty.

The indictment alleges Kim Taylor fraudulently filled out absentee ballot requests and voter registration forms and cast absentee ballots on behalf of others during Taylor's unsuccessful run for Congress in the 2020 primary election and his election to the county board in that fall's general election.

Kim Taylor's name had been linked to suspicious election activity before.

Gill said he had received complaints about her during previous elections. Her husband successfully ran for the Iowa House in 2010 and lost his re-election bid in 2012. He was elected to the county board in 2014 and was reelected in 2018.

Gill didn't say what years he received complaints about Taylor, but said he dismissed them because many candidates and their spouses go door to door during campaigns.

Taylor did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday and Friday. His wife's attorney also has declined to comment on the charges.

The night of the 2020 primary election, Gill saw compelling evidence someone was casting fraudulent ballots. Election workers who were processing absentee ballots and tallying write-in votes found several ballots in which the handwriting appeared similar. Jeremy Taylor received numerous write-in votes for the county board and county auditor in the election.

"You could tell by looking at them they were all filled out by the same person," Gill said.

But because the ballots had already been fed though the scanner, they had been separated from the voter's affidavit, so it was impossible to tell who had submitted the ballots. So Gill was unable to take action.

When processing absentee ballots during the fall election, workers noticed similar-looking signatures on affidavits as they opened the envelopes containing the ballots.

"The staff told me there were a lot of signatures coming in on affidavits that looked like they were signed by the same person," Gill said.

Gill said his office provided FBI investigators with the suspicious ballots, absentee request affidavits and voter registration forms. The FBI didn't seek records from previous elections, he said.

The FBI investigation continues and a Justice Department official declined to comment.

Gill said he couldn't give an opinion if the actions affected the outcome of any races.

According to the indictment, Kim Taylor, whom Jeremy Taylor met while teaching in Vietnam, approached Sioux City residents with Vietnamese backgrounds who had limited ability to read and understand English and offered to help them vote. She is accused of signing absentee ballot request forms for residents who were not present or told residents they could sign the forms for other family members, a violation of the registration affidavit in which applicants swear they are the person named on the form.

In some cases, the indictment said, Taylor filled out the ballot and signed the accompanying affidavits for people who were not present or telling family members they could sign on their behalf. She then delivered the ballots to the auditor's office.

Gill on Friday recalled a few occasions when he observed Kim Taylor dropping ballots in a drop box outside the courthouse and saw Jeremy Taylor sitting in their car waiting for her. Kim Taylor voted her own ballots in both elections.

Though Jeremy Taylor has not been charged, speculation swirls about his future on the county Board of Supervisors. Board Chair Matthew Ung, a Republican, said he received a call Friday from a resident asking him to fire Taylor.

Ung said board members can't remove fellow supervisors. He said he's spoken with Taylor and it's up to Taylor to address the allegations.

"He has every right to speak for himself," Ung said. "It will no doubt impact the work of the board as we navigate one of the most challenging budgets in years."