‘Democracy cannot function’ with election fraud, federal judge tells ex-Millbourne official who cheated in mayoral election

A former council member in Delaware County’s tiny Millbourne Borough was sentenced Wednesday to three years in federal prison for unsuccessfully trying to rig the 2021 mayoral election in his favor.

U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle told Md Nurul Hasan that his attempt to fraudulently install himself atop the borough’s government was one of the country’s most serious crimes. And although Hasan had apologized during brief remarks read by his attorney, the judge did not hold back in his criticism of Hasan’s actions four years ago, saying they threatened the very foundation of the borough — and country — he was purporting to want to serve.

“What you’ve done is undermine our democratic process,” Bartle said. “Democracy cannot function if we don’t have free and fair elections, and this scheme was not a minor one.”

Hasan was one of three people charged earlier this year with participating in the scheme to vault himself into the mayor’s office during the 2021 election cycle.

After he lost the Democratic primary by just 16 votes, prosecutors said, Hasan and two coconspirators — then-council members Md Munsur Ali and Md Rafikul Islam — fraudulently reregistered voters from neighboring townships to represent that those people lived at Millbourne addresses before the general election.

To do so, prosecutors said, the men had to learn or access voters’ personal identifying information, such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers, and submit changes to Pennsylvania’s online voter registration website. Sometimes the men did so with a voter’s knowledge, other times without.

Once the registrations were changed, prosecutors said, Hasan had mail-in ballots sent to addresses where he could retrieve them. He and his coconspirators then filled out and returned the ballots with Hasan’s name written in for mayor.

Hasan — who had also encouraged voters to offer legitimate support through a write-in campaign — submitted about three dozen fraudulent ballots in all, prosecutors said, a tally that could have been decisive in a contest where only about 300 total votes were cast.

But Hasan still lost the race to current Millbourne Mayor Mahbubul A. Tayub.

Despite his defeat, Hasan stayed on as the borough council’s vice president, and remained in his seat even after he pleaded guilty in federal court in April to crimes including conspiracy, fraudulent voter registration, and providing false information in voter registrations. (He was also charged with similar crimes in a related case that is still pending in state court.)

Hasan rebuffed calls to resign earlier this spring. The borough council was in the midst of an unexpected staffing crisis at the time due to unrelated resignations. Hasan ultimately stepped down in May, his lawyer said in court Wednesday.

Ali has still not relinquished his council seat, according to the borough’s website, but he is scheduled to be sentenced next week. State law likely prohibits him from continuing to hold office after his penalty is imposed, but it is not clear how or when he might be forced to step down.

Islam, meanwhile, was sentenced earlier Wednesday to one year and one day behind bars. Prosecutors said he had the smallest role in the scheme, allowing Hasan to use his email address when making changes to some voter registrations.

James Allen, Delaware County’s director of elections, testified at Hasan’s sentencing hearing that the scheme was perhaps the worst example of voter fraud he had seen in about two decades working in electoral contests. And it was particularly harmful, Allen said, that the plot unfolded amid an election climate that has grown increasingly volatile in recent years, with conspiracy theories and allegations of fraud exploding across the country.

“This is going to cause suspicion forever on the elections of Millbourne,” Allen said. “There was real damage to the reputation of elections here. And it was all for a selfish motive, which was to gain some elected seat dishonestly.”