A handful of rappers, including Drake and 50 Cent, were falsely registered to vote using the same address in Texas in an apparent prank, officials said.
Recording artists Drake, 50 Cent, Chris Brown, Trey Songz and The Game were all registered to vote using the same home address in Katy, a city west of Houston.
Residents of the modest neighborhood where the rappers were registered to vote told The Houston Chronicle they had not seen any celebrities out and about in the community.
Records from the Harris County Tax Assessor’s Office show someone registered each of the men to vote on Aug. 15 — a day Drake was performing 1,500 miles away in California.
All of the registration applications appear to have been filled out by the same person. None of the celebrities cast a ballot in last year’s elections, so no voter fraud occurred.
“These people are either committing high misdemeanors or felonies,” said Randall Erben, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, referring to whoever registered the celebrities to vote. “This is not fooling around.”
State law only allows a spouse, parent or child acting as an agent to fill out the forms on someone’s behalf, meaning the same person could not have legally submitted the forms for all five celebrities.
Federal law also allows people to register to vote without a Texas driver’s license number, ID or Social Security number if they can provide full legal names and birth dates — information easily available online for celebrities.
The prankster who registered the five artists checked a box indicating they did not have a supplemental form of ID on each of the registrations.
Submitting a false or forged voter application form is a third-degree felony, and acting as someone else’s agent is a Class A misdemeanor, according to Erben.
Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Whoever filled out the applications signed the papers, which read, “I understand that giving false information to procure a voter registration is perjury, and a crime under state and federal law. Conviction of this crime may result in imprisonment up to one year in jail, a fine up to $4,000, or both.”
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, whose office can investigate fraudulent registrations, said voting rights should not be the subject of a prank.
“Drake and 50 Cent obviously did not do these voter registrations, and whoever did committed a crime,” he said.
