This is based on an Onion community post I saw a few days ago, with the headline of (paraphrased) "Person with 'I Vorted' badge believes polling station might not have been real after all".
Now, it's rather obvious this is not something that's actually happening, but I am curious about what the legal consequences of this would be (which I guess probably differ per state). I guess it'd lead to criminal prosecution for voting fraud, but what would happen with the votes which had been cast there?
It would be a crime in almost every state, although the exact state law would vary, of course. See, e.g., Colorado Revised Statutes § 1-13-109 (false statements) while really intended initially as a defamation/misrepresentation about an issue type statute, it would also apply to statements misleading people about whether they have cast a valid ballot. See also C.R.S. § 1-13-112 (offenses related to mail ballots:) "Any person who, by use of force or other means, unduly influences an elector to vote in any particular manner or to refrain from voting . . . upon conviction shall be punished as provided in section 1-13-111." And C.R.S. § 1-13-706 (delivering/receiving a ballot when not an official).
In Colorado, the exact mechanism of the fraud would influence which offense applies, because there is not just a general law prohibiting election related fraud. Only specific acts that result in election fraud are prohibited. Some other jurisdictions, in contrast, have a "catchall" prohibition against election fraud that has the advantage of covering novel kinds of election fraud that nobody has thought of or attempted before.
The votes cast there would not be counted, because it's a fake polling station, and that's pretty much the definition of a fake polling station.
Of course, if the polling station is clearly indicated as fake, this is not fraud or a crime, and is instead "pretend play", as might be the case on a movie set, or in an elementary school where a teacher is teaching students about elections. No one would be mistaken in thinking that they had really voted after having gone to a pretend polling station of this kind.
You ask: what would happen with the votes which had been cast there?
There would have been no "votes" cast at a fake polling station. Nothing that is done at a fake polling station could constitute a vote for the purpose of election law.
For just one example of a state defining a vote to be from official ballots, see Nebraska R.S. 32-914
Official ballots shall be used at all elections...
And 32-916:
Two judges of election or a precinct inspector and a judge of election shall affix their initials to the official ballots. The judge of election shall deliver a ballot to each registered voter after complying with section 32-914.
The law therefore does not specify what would happen with any pieces of paper used at the fake polling station. They would presumably be collected as evidence of a crime (presumably 18 USC §241, or any one of a number of state offences, like Nebraska's 32-1521 which makes it a misdemeanor to print a fake official ballot), but that is within the discretion of the investigators.
