This one’s not the work of a criminal mastermind. 

According to [AG] Platkin, James Devine allegedly emailed the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections about 1,948 fraudulent voter certifications in support of [a] petition for a spot on the ballot. Because of the ongoing COVID pandemic, the state allowed electronic signatures on the nominating papers.

A few days later, on April 9, 2021, the New Jersey Democratic State Committee challenged Devine’s paperwork by detailing issues with the voter certifications, including a certification that at least one voter was dead, Platkin said.

In addition, every voter certification was in the same font and signature style and one voter apparently included a number in his name, “Jose8,” Platkin said.

In addition, Platkin said, in almost every case, the same number of extra spaces were between the city name and “NJ” in the address line. The state Division of Elections found it suspicious and believed that it indicated a computer mail merge program had filled out the forms, the attorney general added.

(The candidate supported by the petitions was removed from the ballot.)