Grace Gato, 44, of Hudson, was recently taken into custody for allegedly using the name of her deceased mother to request an absentee ballot for the 2024 general election. Courtesy photo/Hudson Police Department

HUDSON – Grace Gato, 44, of Hudson, is facing the possibility of a $5,000 civil penalty for allegedly using the name of her deceased mother to request an absentee ballot for the 2024 general election.

According to the Supporting Affidavit, Cristina Ostrowski, an investigator for the state Department of Justice, stated that on Oct. 21, 2024, Town Clerk Michelle Brewster received a letter indicating that Gato might attempt to request an absentee ballot.

The letter included two posts from Gato’s X account. The first post, dated Oct. 12, 2024, read: “My mom is a WWII baby who is going to miss WWIII. She made sure she voted absentee ballot while in hospice care. I just have to mail it.” On Oct. 16, Gato posted: “My mother passed away last night.”

Later on Oct. 21, Gato went to the Town Hall to deliver the application for an absentee ballot. The application listed Gato’s mother, Ruby Ponce, as the registered voter and included Ponce’s signature. The application was dated Oct. 13, 2024.

“Gato signed an attestation that she assisted the applicant in executing the form because the applicant has a disability,” said Ostrowski.

Gato gave the application to Deputy Town Clerk Donna Melanson and told her: “I’m dropping this off for my mother so she can vote.”

After Gato left, Brewster checked the New Hampshire Vital Records and confirmed that Ponce died on Oct. 15, prompting her to contact the DOJ’s Election Law Unit.

New Hampshire law “prohibits a person from applying for a ballot in a name other than their own.”

However, Gato maintains that there was no wrongdoing.

She said her mother had always been a strong proponent of civic engagement and that it was her dying wish to vote in the 2024 election.

“After she passed, I went to the Hudson Town Clerk’s Office to request the ballot, intending to bury it with her as a symbolic way to honor her last wish,” said Gato, adding that she was told the ballot would be sent in the mail. “The ballot never arrived. I never followed up, never forged anything and never attempted to use her ballot in any way. I did not and would not commit fraud.”

Gato was instructed to turn herself into Hudson Police on Oct. 17 of this year for booking and to be arraigned in Nashua District Court.

“The timing, just two days after the anniversary of my mother’s death, has made this especially painful,” said Gato. “The stress has been immense and this criminal charge feels like an unnecessary and vindictive blow during one of the hardest chapters of my life.”