St. Cloud man sentenced for applying for absentee ballot while being ineligible to vote

A 45-year-old St. Cloud man convicted of a felony in 2018 has been sentenced to two years of probation for applying for an absentee ballot while ineligible to vote.

Bradley A. Haugen also was ordered Friday by Stearns County District Judge Mary Hahler to pay $214 in fines and fees after he pleaded guilty to a felony county of intentionally making a false or untrue statement on an absentee ballot application.

This was the first time the County Attorney's Office has prosecuted an ineligible voter for merely applying for an absentee ballot, according to court records.

Haugen was ineligible to vote until October 2023 when his five years of probation for a 2018 felony conviction for cashing bad checks expired.

In early June 2020, election officials received an absentee ballot application signed by Haugen. The form included that the applicant was certifying his eligibility to vote, including if "convicted of a felony, my felony sentence has expired or I have been discharged from my sentence."

Haugen told an investigator that he was aware that he was ineligible to vote but also said "he had thrown the ballot away and never voted," the criminal complaint read.

The investigator confirmed with county elections staff that Haugen never submitted his ballot.