Cape Cod woman acquitted of voter fraud charges in N.H.

A Cape Cod woman was acquitted last month of voter fraud charges in New Hampshire stemming from the 2018 midterm elections, according to court records.

A jury found Mary Kate Lowndes, 59, of Hyannis, not guilty of one felony and two misdemeanor voter fraud charges, while a third misdemeanor charge was dismissed by Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Daniel St. Hilaire on grounds of insufficient evidence, according to court records and a statement by Lowndes’s attorney, William Christie of Shaheen & Gordon in Concord, N.H.

Christie described Lowndes as an “honorable person who has dedicated her life at the Peace Corps and elsewhere to serving others.”

“From day one, Mary Kate always believed she was eligible to vote in the State of New Hampshire,” Christie said in a statement. “In a case that never should have been brought, we are grateful that the jury and the court fully exonerated her.”

Lowndes, formerly of Washington, D.C., had been accused of voting in Derry in the November 2018 election while also submitting an absentee ballot using a fake Derry address. She was also accused of using the same fake address to obtain a ballot in 2018 and in submitting a voter registration form for the 2016 election.

Lowndes was indicted in September 2020. The jury’s verdict was delivered Sept. 23, according to court records.

In an e-mail to the Globe, Lowndes said she waited two years before she had a chance to testify.

“I returned from working in Ukraine and was able to take the Stand to tell the truth to a Jury,” she wrote.

The New Hampshire attorney general’s office provided a brief statement in response to a request for comment.

“The case was prosecuted for election law violations,” the statement said. “We pursued the case to trial and the jury made its decision.”