Social media influencer charged with election interference in 2016 sentenced to prison

Social media influencer Douglass Mackey was sentenced to seven months in prison on Wednesday for interfering with the 2016 election. 

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that Mackey, who went by the name “Ricky Vaughn” on social media, was handed a seven-month prison sentence after being convicted at trial for conspiracy against rights. Mackey, who was a supporter of former Presdient Trump, was convicted of running a scam in 2016 that fooled thousands of people into believing that they could vote by text message. 

Vaughn, who had 58,000 followers on the platform then-known as Twitter in 2016, was accused of conspiring with other prominent Twitter users to put out misleading messages encouraging supporters of former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton io “vote” through text message or social media.

The Justice Department described an instance where Vaughn posted a photo of a Black woman standing in front of an “African Americans for Hillary” sign that stated: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home,” “Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925” and “Vote for Hillary and be a part of history.” It also said it was paid for by Clinton’s campaign, and her campaign slogan, “#I’mWithHer,” was included in the tweet. 

When Election Day rolled around in 2016, the Justice Department said that at least 4,900 voters had texted “Hillary” or some variation to the number provided. 

At the time of Mackey's arrest in 2021, Twitter said that it had taken down four of his accounts. 

Trump was also charged with conspiracy against rights in the federal election interference case brought by the Justice Department earlier this year. 

The indictment alleges that Trump “did knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with co-conspirators, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege and secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States—that is, the right to vote, and to have one’s vote counted.”