I apologize in advance for the mental whiplash this news will produce in the minds of liberals, but there’s’ an update to the story of Olivia Reynolds. If you’re not familiar with the name that’s not terribly surprising because Ms. Reynolds was convicted of voter fraud last September, and most of the media hates to talk about such unpleasant things. Following her conviction, she appealed through the normal process and that appeal has now been denied. (Alabama News)

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a conviction of a Dothan woman who was found guilty of 24 counts of absentee ballot fraud on Friday, Attorney General Luther Strange announced. Olivia Lee Reynolds, 60, is one of three women who were involved in a fraud during the 2013 Dothan municipal election. Reynolds was in a relationship with District 2 City Commissioner Amos Newsome, who beat challenger Lamesa Danzey by 14 votes. Reynolds also worked on Newsome’s campaign.

Reynolds was doing her ballot stuffing on behalf of Democratic Dothan, Alabama District 2 City Commissioner Amos Newsome. For his part, Newsome was later arrested on assault charges after punching out a reporter who dared to ask him about the vote rigging. Ms. Reynolds was only one of four people eventually convicted in this scheme which looked to be a conspiracy by all accounts. It’s unclear why Reynolds bothered appealing her conviction in the first place since she apologized for doing it after her first trial.

Reynolds apologized while being sentenced. “I apologize,” Reynolds said. “I had no intention of doing anything wrong. I was just trying to help the citizens.” Reynolds argued for probation and said she had “serious medical problems” but did not elaborate.

I suppose she unintentionally filled out ballots for 24 other people without their knowledge and submitted them. Hey… who hasn’t had that happen to them, amirite?

Now, I know that Democrats will try to poo-poo this story because it deals with a local election in a relatively small town. Such arguments are nonsense. Voter fraud is voter fraud and if it can happen in one precinct it can happen pretty much anywhere. Also, even in some mythical universe where this was the only place where it happened (and for the record, it’s not) even one instance of voter fraud is a number which is infinitely too large.

Despite liberal claims that it’s almost impossible to rig an election, facts remain stubborn things. Almost four years ago I attempted to patiently explain why the actual number of instances of voter fraud will never be known and are clearly well above the number of convictions we see. If you never read that one before, take a moment and do so. (It involves the murder rate in New York City, so there’s at least some excitement added to the story.) The reality is that it’s painfully easy to commit voter fraud because we have almost nobody trying to actively detect it most of the time. The case of Olivia Reynolds is a bit different from the usual fare because she was an official with access to the machinery of the election and could more easily stuff the ballot box. But individuals can do even more and it’s been shown repeatedly that it happens.

Of course, you won’t be seeing this story blasted around on cable news this week. It’s all just so distasteful and you wouldn’t want to upset the voters.