Election Fraud Cases

Willie J. Ray, Jamillah Johnson

Willie Ray, a Texarkana Ward 2 City Councilwoman, and Jamillah Johnson pleaded guilty to fraudulent use of absentee ballots during the 2004 general election. The two women illegally assisted elderly and other voters in submitting applications for mail-in ballots, then collected and mailed in the completed ballots for the voters. This assistance is a Class B misdemeanor under Texas law. The judge fined Willie Ray $200 and sentenced her to eight months of probation. Jamillah Johnson received a $200 fine and six months of probation.

Source: bit.ly/2fcgEMG, bit.ly/2f26dIi

Trinidad Villalobos

Trinidad Villalobos was convicted by a jury of illegally possessing and transporting ballots belonging to multiple voters during the 2004 primary. According to witnesses, Villalobos offered to assist elderly voters fill out applications for absentee ballots and would later collect and mail those ballots. Unauthorized possession of ballots is a misdemeanor under Texas law. Villalobos received six months of probation for each charge.

Source: https://herit.ag/3x9300o

Isabel Rios Gonzalez

Isabel Rios Gonzalez, of Nueces County, entered a plea of nolo contendere to two counts of "possessing of an official ballot or carrier envelope of another." In a 2005 school district election, she targeted the elderly by going door-to-door to obtain votes, and then took the ballots to the post office for mailing. She was sentenced to one year of deferred adjudication, 12 months of community supervision, and was ordered to pay a $500 fine. She conspired to engage in vote harvesting with Virginia Ramos Garza, Elida Garza Flores, and Josefina Marinas Suarez, all of whom were charged and ultimately admitted into diversion programs or received deferred adjudications.

Source: Case No. 05-CR-9808-3 (Information obtained from the Office of the Attorney General of Texas), bit.ly/2GT3PVA

Perry French Harvey

Perry French Harvey pleaded guilty to a charge of scheming to buy votes in the 2004 Logan County Democratic primary. He was sentenced to three years' probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3x9XESC, https://herit.ag/3zV0k8P

Greg Stowers, Wandell "Rocky" Adkins, Clifford Odell "Groundhog" Vance, Toney "Zeke" Dingess, Ralph Dale Adkins, and Jackie Adkins

Six Lincoln County Democrats pleaded guilty to charges of participating in a conspiracy to buy votes dating back to 1990. The indictment charged that the six conspired to buy votes in elections held in 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004 "for the purpose of selecting and electing candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives and in some instances, for the presidency and vice presidency of the U.S." The men paid for votes in liquor and cash, typically $20 per vote, and handed out slates listing preferred candidates. The five also laid gravel on roads for supporters and fixed traffic tickets. Some of their sentences included the following: Vance was sentenced to 30 months of imprisonment, Stowers received six months of imprisonment, and Wandell Adkins received four months in a halfway house.

Source: https://herit.ag/3iRgl8B, https://herit.ag/3f2SFx0

Rogelio Mejorada-Lopez

Mejorada-Lopez, a Mexican citizen, completed several voter registration applications to register to vote in Alaska and voted in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 general elections. He was charged with three counts of voting by a non-citizen in violation of 18 U.S.C. 611 and was sentenced to probation for one year after pleading guilty.

Source: United States v. Rogelio Mejorada-Lopez, No. 05-CR-074 (2005)

Connie Tyree, Frank "Pinto" Smith, Booker Cooke, Jr., Flephus Hardy, Garria Spencer, Althenia Spencer, Racing Commissioner Lester "Bop" Brown, and Spiver Gordon

The Birmingham Office of the U.S. Attorney and the Alabama Attorney General conducted an extensive joint investigation of absentee ballot fraud allegations in Greene County in the November 1994 election. By the end of the investigation, nine defendants pleaded guilty to voter fraud and two others were found guilty by a jury. The defendants included Greene County commissioners, officials, and employees; a racing commissioner; a member of the board of education; a Eutaw city councilman; and other community leaders. The conspiracy included using an assembly line to mass produce forged absentee ballots meant to swing elections in favor of preferred candidates.

Source: https://herit.ag/3i71R5v

Trina Stevenson

Trina Stevenson pleaded guilty to voter registration fraud. Stevenson was required to pay a fine and serve probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3rDniya, Superior Court of California, Case #1088984,

Ajmal Shah

Ajmal Shah was convicted in 2005 on two counts of voter fraud after Shah attempted to register to vote by providing fabricated information regarding U.S. citizenship. Shah was sentenced to time served, in addition to one year of supervised release for the first count and three years of supervised release for the second count, to be served concurrently, and fined $200 in fees.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BKpp7T

Usman Ali Chaudhary

On May 18, 2005, a jury found Usman Ali Chaudhary, also known as Usman Ali, guilty of making a false claim regarding his citizenship status on his driver's license and voter registration applications. Chaudhary was sentenced to three years' probation, $3,000 in fines, and $100 in court costs.

Source: https://herit.ag/2UUr767

Ricardo Knight

In Miami-Dade County, legal permanent resident Ricardo Knight admitted to immigration officials that he had voted in the extremely close 2000 presidential election. He was convicted and sentenced to a year of probation and fined $500.

Source: https://herit.ag/3rAyxYe

Egbert Rickman

Egbert Rickman entered a plea of no contest to a charge that he knowingly voted in an election despite being a non-citizen. Rickman was sentenced to six months of probation and ordered to pay a $250 fine.

Source: US v. Rickman, Case #04-CR-20491 in Florida

Astrid Natalia Torres-Perez

Astrid Natalia Torres-Perez pleaded guilty to charges that she voted despite being a non-citizen and therefore ineligible. She was sentenced to one year of probation.

Source: US v. Torres-Perez, Case #04-CR-14046 in Florida

William Burl Clayton III

William Burl Clayton III was charged with illegally signing an initiative petition in relation to the 2004 general election in Bonneville County, Idaho. He was convicted in 2005, and was given two years' probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3l1kDwU, Case #CR-2004-0017912-FE

Patty Kae McCammon

Patty Kae McCammon pleaded guilty to illegally signing an initiative petition in relation to the 2004 general election in Bonneville County, Idaho. She was sentenced to two years' probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/3rDnrlc, Case #CR-2004-0017920-FE