New Jersey mailman, 26, faces up to five years in prison for 'dumping 99 ballots in the trash that were meant for voters in heavily Democratic suburbs'

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A postal employee in New Jersey dumped more than 1,800 pieces of mail, including 99 ballots for the upcoming election, that were intended for households in heavily Democratic areas, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Nicholas Beauchene, 26, of Kearny, faced arraignment later on Wednesday in federal court in Newark on charges of delay, secretion or detention of mail and obstruction of mail. 

If convicted of delay of mail, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

A conviction for obstruction of mail carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. 

It was not known if he had retained a lawyer. Beauchene has not responded to a request from DailyMail.com for comment.

Nicholas Beauchene, 26, of Kearny, New Jersey, is due to appear in federal court in Newark on Wednesday for an arraignment

Beauchene faces at least five years in prison if he is convicted on mail obstruction charges

Federal prosecutors allege that Beauchene dumped more than 1,800 pieces of mail, including 99 ballots for the upcoming election, that were intended for households in heavily Democratic areas

The approximately 1,875 pieces of discarded mail were recovered from trash dumpsters in North Arlington and West Orange on Friday and Monday, prosecutors said. 

It had been scheduled to be delivered to addresses on certain postal routes in Orange and West Orange.

In addition to the election ballots for residents in West Orange, prosecutors said 276 campaign flyers from candidates for the West Orange Council and for the school board also were recovered.

Prosecutors said Beauchene was the only mail carrier assigned to deliver to the addresses on the delivery dates.

The recovered mail was placed back into the mail stream for delivery.

Orange and West Orange are suburban townships located in Essex County, New Jersey.

In 2016, Essex County voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, who received 240,837 votes.

Clinton's Republican opponent, Donald Trump, received just 63,176 votes in the county. Clinton won New Jersey by 55 per cent to 41 per cent for Trump. 

Beauchene's Facebook page does not indicate any overt support for one political candidate. 

New Jersey is one of many states that are allowing voters to mail in their ballots due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

New Jersey is one of several states that have expanded mail-in voting this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

A federal judge in New Jersey declined on Tuesday to grant a preliminary injunction sought by the Trump campaign to stop New Jersey’s mail-in ballot program.

In a filing last month, the campaign said the program violated the Constitution and would 'establish conditions likely to incentivize and facilitate the same kind of fraud and confusion that have plagued New Jersey elections for years.'

Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation in August that allowed election officials to begin counting mail-in ballots 10 days before Election Day and accept un-postmarked ballots up to two days afterward.

The GOP sued New Jersey in August, calling the state’s plan to send mail-in ballots to its more than 6 million registered voters 'a brazen power grab' by Murphy that created the possibility of widespread voter fraud.

The two major political parties are embroiled in dozens of lawsuits across the country over issues including mail-in ballots, ballot drop boxes, witness requirements and time extensions for voting and for counting ballots.