Thread: WV - Lincoln senator claims ballot fraud, vote buying

Thursday May 6, 2010
Lincoln senator claims ballot fraud, vote buying
by Kris Wise Maramba
Daily Mail staff
Advertiser


CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Almost four years to the day since several Lincoln County officials were sentenced to federal prison for their part in a long-running vote-buying scheme, new allegations have arisen that the county's election system is still corrupt.

Sen. Ron Stollings, a Democrat running for re-election in the 7th District that includes Lincoln, Boone and Wayne counties, said he has hired an attorney and plans to file a formal complaint over allegations that someone is buying votes in Lincoln County.

Stollings, D-Boone, said he also has received information that absentee ballots are being hand-delivered to voters with a slate of candidates already selected.

"It's unbelievable," Stollings said of the claims. "I thought surely to God people understand now that they are being watched."

In May 2006, former Lincoln County Assessor Jerry Weaver and former Circuit Clerk Greg Stowers were sentenced to one year and six months in prison, respectively, for their participation in a far-reaching vote-buying conspiracy that dated back to at least 1990.

Stollings, who has been engaged in a heated primary race against Delegate Jeff Eldridge, D-Lincoln, said he was stunned when first presented last week with evidence that appears to show someone is tampering with the election process.

He said he was at a campaign event Saturday when a man, whom he would not name, gave him a tape recording.

At first, he said, he didn't know what he was listening to.

"I'm a big bluegrass fan," Stollings said Wednesday. "Somebody comes up to me and hands me a tape and I put it in my car thinking it's going to be (bluegrass band) Flatt and Scruggs or something like that."

Instead, he said, it was a recording of a voter claiming to have been paid $25 to vote for specific Democratic candidates and another voter alleging someone showed up at his or her residence with an absentee ballot already filled out with a slate of Democrats.

Stollings said multiple candidates were on the list, from his challenger in the Senate race to candidates in the 19th District House race and local commission and school board races.

The senator said another concern is information from the county clerk's office that almost four times as many absentee ballots have been requested by voters in Lincoln County than are usually cast.

"That kind of raised a red flag," Stollings said.

"I am not saying there is vote fraud," he said. "I'm just saying it's been brought to my attention, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make sure it is not happening."

Stollings said he didn't know what to do with the tape recordings, so he turned them over to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

He said Wednesday afternoon he was working with an attorney, Leah Macia of Spillman, Thomas & Battle in Charleston, and was preparing to file a complaint with the Secretary of State's Office.

Jake Glance, a spokesman for Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, said his office is prevented by state code from confirming whether an investigation has begun.

Sandy Likens, voters registration clerk for Lincoln County, said no one from the Secretary of State's office had contacted her office as of Wednesday afternoon and no candidates have approached the office with concerns about absentee ballots.

She said she doubted there was any truth to the allegations.

"It would be highly unlikely that someone would say they are receiving a ballot that's already filled out. There's no way," she said.

She said a voter must submit an application for an absentee ballot, either by mail or in person at the county clerk's office. Officials there check to make sure the person is registered to vote and determine which precinct they vote in. The absentee ballot then is given to ballot commissioners, one Democrat and one Republican, who both must sign it. It is then given back to the county clerk's office and mailed directly to the voter.

Likens said so far this year 850 absentee ballots have been mailed out and about 400 have been returned.

She said she did not immediately have information on how many ballots typically are requested and returned in Lincoln County during an election.

Stollings cited figures from the Secretary of State's office that the highest number of absentee ballots ever cast in Lincoln County was 230.

Likens said that figure was probably accurate.

The race between Stollings and Eldridge, who was first elected to the House in 2004, has likely piqued the interest of voters.

Eldridge, who last year introduced the infamous bill to ban Barbie dolls in West Virginia, has targeted Stollings for his Senate Judiciary Committee vote in 2008 against SB166, which dealt with whistleblower protections for miners.

Similarly, in the 8th District Senatorial race in Kanawha County, unions have criticized Sen. Erik Wells for his vote against that bill. Stollings and Wells say the bill would not have strengthened the whistleblower laws that already exist but instead would have unfairly extended protections to job applicants.

Eldridge said Wednesday afternoon he had been out of cell phone range for most of the day knocking on the doors of rural voters and had not heard about the allegations of voter fraud in Lincoln County.

But he said, "If that is happening, I would love for it to be investigated. I'm a big advocate for running on ethics. I'm tired of crooks."

He said Lincoln County already has enough problems at the polls, citing reports from recent elections that some polling places were short on workers and therefore didn't open until late afternoon.

Stollings said he has similar concerns that after so many years of problems at the polls and rumors of illegal vote-buying that voters in Lincoln County will start to feel disenfranchised and give up.

"I want the outcome of the election to be real instead of it being tainted," he said. "Unless this is all just hearsay and when we start looking into it, it didn't really happen. I don't know if somebody is just doing stuff to get us rattled, to get us to take our eye off the ball at the end of the election here.

"Maybe at the end of the day, they'll just say, 'Hey, the joke's on you.' I hope so."

Contact writer Kris Wise Maramba at krisw...@dailymail.com">krisw...@dailymail.com or 304-348-4817.

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"That kind of raised a red flag"

Yes Mr Stollings. A Red flag HAS been raised in triumph by those who have taken over your democratic party.