Illinois woman pleads guilty to felony election fraud in St. Joseph County

A woman charged with forging voter signatures on candidate ballot petitions in St. Joseph County pleaded guilty on Friday December 19, 2025 to felony election fraud.

Karina Escobar Perez from Illinois is accused of turning in 530 voter signatures to the county election and voter registration office in February of 2024.

An investigation showed only 19 of those signatures could be validated.

Court documents show Perez was hired by a contractor to gather signatures to get Democratic hopeful Dean Philips on the Indiana Presidential Primary ballot.



https://wsbt.com/news/local/illinois-woman-pleads-guilty-to-felony-election-fraud-in-st-joseph-county-signatures-contractor-voter-registration-february-2024-indiana-elections