EVERETT — A Marysville woman is being accused of voting more than once in last year’s general election.

Prosecutors allege that the woman, 60, sent in her own ballot and also voted a second time by filling out her son’s ballot. She also is accused of voting in the Skagit County six times over the years even though she lives in Marysville.

The woman was charged Monday with voting fraud, a felony.

Snohomish County election officials first began investigating when they received a ballot from the woman’s son. The ballot appeared to have been signed by the man but he had lost his right to vote after being convicted of a felony, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro wrote.

Each election, the rolls of registered voters are audited, and felons, who are ineligible to vote absent a court order to restore their rights, are removed from the rolls, Snohomish County elections manager Garth Fell said.

If a felon attempts to vote, the information is forwarded to the prosecutor’s office to determine if the person made an honest mistake or intended to commit voter fraud. Very few of these cases result in criminal charges, said Cavagnaro, who reviews allegations of voter fraud.

In this case, detectives met with the suspect’s son. He told them he hadn’t voted or signed the ballot. He said he had never seen the ballot. He had been in jail when the ballot was mailed to his mother’s address, court papers said.

Snohomish county sheriff’s detectives later met with his mother. She told investigators she didn’t fill out her son’s ballot and knew forging his signature would be a crime. Investigators later compared her signature from the police statement with the signature on the suspicious ballot.

The signatures were similar and police once again questioned the woman. She told them she hadn’t forged her son’s signature. She admitted that she had voted in Skagit County even though she lived in Snohomish County, Cavagnaro wrote. She allegedly told police she’d lived in Snohomish County for eight years but voted in Skagit County three times during that time, court papers said.

Washington State Patrol handwriting experts examined handwriting from the woman and her son and compared those samples with the signature on the back of the suspicious ballot. The expert concluded that the woman likely signed the ballot, Cavagnaro wrote.

Investigators believe the woman forged her son’s signature in an attempt to vote twice in the election.

They also believe that the woman voted six times in Skagit County over the years, despite living in Snohomish County.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.