Iowa Woman Convicted of Trying Too Hard to Get Husband Elected

UPDATE Nov 22, 2023 2:00 AM CST

The wife of an Iowa county supervisor was convicted Tuesday of a ballot-stuffing scheme meant to help her husband win a congressional race. Kim Taylor, who is from Vietnam and who filled out ballots on behalf of Iowa voters of Vietnamese heritage with limited English comprehension, was found guilty of 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, three counts of fraudulent registration, and 23 counts of fraudulent voting, the AP reports. Jeremy Taylor's campaign in the 2020 Republican primary for a seat in Congress was ultimately unsuccessful; he has not been charged, but the investigation is ongoing. His wife faces up to five years behind bars on each charge.

Jan 13, 2023 2:09 PM CST

Candidates for political office usually expect their spouses to back them up in their run, but one GOP contender's wife in Iowa may have gone a little too far in her zeal for his candidacy. The Des Moines Register reports that the Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against 49-year-old Kim Phuong Taylor of Sioux City, the wife of Jeremy Taylor, an ex-member of the state House and a current supervisor in Woodbury County. Per a DOJ release, Phuong Taylor was arrested for masterminding an election fraud scheme to help her husband win two separate elections in 2020: the first, a primary election in June 2020 in which Jeremy Taylor unsuccessfully ran in Iowa's 4th US Congressional District; and the second, the general election later that year, when he successfully ran for his current supervisor seat.

Per the release and the Washington Times, Phuong Taylor, an immigrant who's since achieved US citizenship, cajoled members of Sioux City's Vietnamese community to register to vote, then request absentee ballots—at which point she would fill out the ballots herself, or tell others they could sign for relatives on their behalf. "Taylor then took the ballots with her and delivered them to the Woodbury County Auditor's office, causing the casting of votes in the names of residents who had no knowledge of and had not consented to the casting of their ballots," prosecutors allege. Phuong Taylor is now facing upward of 50 charges—including 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, 23 counts of fraudulent voting, and three counts of fraudulent registration. If convicted, she could see a max of five years behind bars on each count. (More election fraud stories.)