12 former officials indicted for voter fraud

[The Northerner]

Source: WALB

QUITMAN, GA (WALB) - 12 former Brooks County officials were indicted for voter fraud. The suspects are accused of illegally helping people vote by absentee ballot.

State officials launched an investigation after an unusually high number of absentee ballots were cast in the July 2010 primary election. "As a result of their grand jury findings 12 individuals were indicted in that particular matter and we will be trying that case in a court of judicial law instead of a court of public opinion so that will be pending this next year," said District Attorney Joe Mulholland.

The defendants include some workers in the voter registrar's office and some school board members. They are Angela Bryant, April Proctor, Brenda Monds, Debra Denard, Lula Smart, Kechia Harrison, Robert Denard, Sandra Cody, Elizabeth Thomas, Linda Troutman, Latashia Head, and Nancy Denard.

Read more: http://www.walb.com/story/16104533/12-indicted-for-voter-fraud

[EC]

1. Not much of a story there.

Doesn't say what kind of absentee ballad law was broken. Is it just a law put on the books by the repubs to suppress the vote? How can helping people with their ballads be illegal? This article is poorly written - doesn't say anything except point fingers. I'm at work now so I can't watch the video. What law did they break?

[PatrynXX]

2. sounds like election fraud not voter fraud n/t

[subterranean]

5. Actually, it sounds like neither.

The article says that the "crime" they were accused of is helping people vote by absentee ballot. They must have broken some Georgia law that prohibits public officials from assisting voters. But that's not fraud unless the voters they helped were unregistered or used false identities.

[fascisthunter]

3. lol... yet the GOP steals whole elections

[Mnemosyne]

4. Election fraud, not voter fraud. Oh well, got to push the meme. n/t

[DallasNE]

6. Voting While Black

Is the only "crime" I can see that was committed.

[LiberalLovinLug]

7. I don't get it

I've googled key words for any other information and all I get is a repeat of this sparse ill informed article.

Why is it illegal to help people vote absentee? Is it because those people COULD have voted in person but were goaded into voting absentee? Even so, why is that illegal? From the outside it looks like the Republican (no doubt) prosecutor wants to send a message to stop this kind of thing in the future. That is that many poor urban black (or white) citizens may not actually go out and vote on voting day if they hadn't been approached and told about this alternate way wherein they didn't have to leave their homes.

This seems like it was done to create another ACORN for the Democrats. Most of the sites I found when I Googled were freeper sites where they are ASSuming they are all Democrats and using the story to confirm their convictions that its the Dems who are cheating...once again.

Most likely the story with be repeated on Rush for days. They say it won't be until next year that the trial will happen, so they will be able to milk the "Democratic Fraud rampant" angle until after the election, where the case will be thrown out of court if that is all they have on them.

[caseymoz]

8. What law are they supposed to have violated?

That public officials can't assist people in voting? It appears to be a prosecutor trying to suppress the vote. That's my suspicion.

Question: If Republicans are caught suppressing the vote, as they have been trying to do in the Wisconsin recall, shouldn't the party get the ACORN-like treatment? Get declared a criminal organization and being barred from office and compelled to disband? Not serious, of course, but I'm just wondering how Repubs feel their efforts to suppress votes is better by any degree.

And, of course, to really be compared to ACORN, we have to find Repubs who really didn't do it.

[MaineDem]

9. Were any of these officials on the ballot?

Here in Maine, candidates are not allowed to touch absentee ballots. Can't deliver them; can't return them; can't touch them. Otherwise it is a violation of state law.

This is a poorly written article. Not a lot of detail at all.

[hughee99]

10. Another great example of shitty journalism.

I'm surprised also that we have a story where the party of these officials charged with voter fraud is not identified explicitly and NO ONE has speculated on what party they might be from. Usually when someone who is or was an elected official is indicted on anything, and the party is not identified, some of the FIRST posts I see are people pointing that out.