Kenny Ray Bowen and Billy Street both pleaded guilty to two counts of voter fraud in connection with their involvement in a vote-buying scheme surrounding the 2007 Benton County election. They were the last of 16 individuals who either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of voter fraud in an elaborate electioneering operation. Both men […]
Eight defendants (including a former circuit judge, a former school superintendent, a county clerk, a magistrate, and a former Democratic election commissioner) were convicted of vote-buying, mail fraud, extortion, and money laundering for checking lists of voters to identify those who would take bribes and for organizing people to drive them to the polls, where […]
Chester Jones and Sherman Neace pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a vote-buying scheme masterminded by the two men during the 2008 election. Jones was running for the Perry County School Board and also served as chairman of the county Democrat Party executive committee. Neace, a former county judge-executive, was running for magistrate. The pair […]
Wilbur Graves, a former judge-executive for Monroe County, was convicted along with Wanda Moore, Gary Bartley, and Ronald Muse in a vote-buying scheme during the 2006 Monroe County general election. Moore and Muse both reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, testifying against Wilbur Graves. During the testimony, Moore stated that Graves provided her $20,000 to […]
Former Dodge County Sheriff Michael Douglas, Jr., and Deputy Sheriff Olin Gibson pleaded guilty to election fraud in connection with Douglas’ first campaign for sheriff in 2004. Douglas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to buy votes and to voting more than once, and Gibson pleaded guilty to buying a vote for Douglas.
Randy Salyer, an operative in a vote-buying scheme connected to Magoffin County Judge-Executive Charles “Doc” Hardin, was convicted of two counts of vote-buying. A joint investigation by the Kentucky Attorney General’s office and the FBI revealed that Salyer paid individuals $100 each to bring him their absentee ballots. He was sentenced to 21 months in […]
Six defendants pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to buy votes in the 2006 Monroe County general election in favor of certain candidates. Gumm was sentenced to three years’ probation with eight months’ home detention and a $4,000 fine. Martha Hughes, Michael Page, and Corey Page were each sentenced to two years’ probation and six […]
In 2012, Michael Salyers, a former Brethitt County magistrate candidate, was sentenced to two months in jail, six months in home confinement, and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service for buying votes during his campaign. He admitted to paying people $25 to vote for him.
Three Jackson residents were convicted in a vote buying scheme in a 2010 magistrate’s race where they tried to control the outcome of the primary election. Johnson and Young were sentenced to four months in prison for conspiring to buy votes and vote buying. Jennings was sentenced to two months in prison for vote buying […]
Arch Turner, the Breathitt County School Superintendent, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting to handing out money to buy votes in a 2010 election. He was sentenced to two years in prison and fined $250,000 for his role in directing a vote-buying scheme.