Grand jury indicts 14 on election fraud charges
Thursday, March 02, 2006
THIS JUST IN FROM ROANOKE TIMES
Fourteen people - including the mayor of Appalachia and other town officials - have been charged with hundreds of counts of election fraud in a 300-page indictment handed down today by a Wise County grand jury.
Special prosecutor Tim McAfee is scheduled to hold a press conference at 3 p.m. to provide more details about the charges.
The investigation into the Appalachia elections began in earnest nearly a year ago, when town resident Christina McKinney said a supporter of a town council candidate dropped by her home and offered her cigarettes and pork rinds in exchange for her vote - apparently because she happened to be eating a bag of fried pork skins at the time.
McKinney and several other residents of her low-income apartment complex said they were offered beer and cigarettes in exchange for their absentee votes. Close to 20 percent of the votes cast in the town election were by absentee ballot, nearly four times the state average.
As it turned out, McKinney never got to vote absentee. Someone stole the ballot from her mailbox and cast it without her permission, she told police at the time.
A subsequent investigation of McKinney's complaint revealed that many other mail-in ballots were stolen, forged and fraudulently cast. Investigators also uncovered problems with the town police department, which is headed by former town council candidate who dropped out of the race at the last minute and was later appointed captain of the five-man force by the new town council.
posted by Libertas @ 3:39 PM,
3 Comments:
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At 5:37 PM,
The Richmond Democrat said...
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George Allen just lost 300 votes, heh-heh-heh . . .
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At 11:23 PM,
Corey D. Hernandez said...
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.....does that mean McDonnell gained 300? :)
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At 1:55 AM,
Howling Latina said...
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Perseverando, even though Spanish is my native tongue, I'll be darn if it was only minutes ago I figured out that "perseverando" meant "persevering."
¡Qué estupida soy!