Project Westvote was a massive investigation by the FBI into endemic vote-buying operations in western North Carolina. The operation netted 41 convictions in counties throughout the western part of the state.
Jackson Jones, Don McCranie and Doyce Mullis, Dodge County sheriff, commissioner, and former commissioner, respectively, were convicted of conspiracy to buy votes. The harshest sentence went to McCranie, who received a 30-month prison term, three years of probation, 150 hours of community service, and $5,000 in fines. Sheriff Jones was sentenced to 27 months in […]
An absentee-ballot buying operation was uncovered in Winston County, Alabama, that led to the conviction of the sheriff, circuit clerk, a district judge, and several candidates for county commission and the board of education. The conspirators set out to buy absentee ballots in the 2000 Republican primary with bribes of cash, beer, and liquor. Judge […]
Lincoln Carmouche was convicted of voter fraud in the Marksville mayoral race for bribing a voter. He was sentenced to two years in prison, which was suspended, and two years of supervised probation. He was also fined $2,050 and ordered to perform 64 hours of community service.
Elberta Brown, Leon Hunt, and Tobe Jackson pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted bribery in connection with their involvement in a vote-buying scheme surrounding a 2001 special election for Benton County Sheriff. All three engaged in vote-buying by offering $30 to individuals in an attempt to influence them to vote for Steven A. Thompson, […]
Willard Smith was convicted of conspiracy to buy votes and vote buying in the May 1998 Knott County primary election. He was accused of paying impoverished, handicapped, illiterate, or otherwise impaired persons to vote for Knott County Judge-Executive Donnie Newsome by absentee ballot. Smith was sentenced to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Knott County Judge-Executive Donnie Newsome was convicted of conspiracy to buy votes and vote buying in the May 1998 Knott County primary election. He was sentenced to 26 months in prison and fined $20,000.
Glenn Pitts pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of failure to cast or return a ballot in an authorized manner in connection with the overturned 2003 East Chicago Democratic mayoral primary. Pitts originally claimed that he had been offered $30 in order to hand his ballot to another individual. He initially faced a multitude of […]
Alvin Ray Porter, Jr., the former police chief of Logan County, pleaded guilty to buying votes during the 2002 Democratic Primary. Porter was one of several Logan County officials who conspired to influence elections in 2002. Porter was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. He also was […]
In West Virginia, Johnny Mendez, the sheriff of Logan County, pleaded guilty to federal charges that he accepted $10,000 in illegal contributions and used the money to buy votes in the 2000 and 2004 elections.