Posted on 06/04/2005 3:56:32 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Hardeman County commissioner, Beeville woman indicted for mail-in ballot violations
AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced his office’s first indictments for alleged voter fraud in Texas, returned in separate cases by grand juries in Hardeman and Bee counties.
"My office takes seriously the one-person, one-vote philosophy that has been the backbone of this country throughout its history," said Attorney General Abbott. "When the activities of even one person would undermine the electoral process, we will hold that person accountable."
Hardeman County Precinct 1 Commissioner Johnny Akers, 58, was indicted late Thursday on six counts of election fraud in Quanah. The Texas Election Code violations involve alleged unlawful methods for returning completed ballots during early voting by mail. During the April 2004 primary runoff and November 2004 general elections, the indictment alleges, Akers personally handled or mailed ballots for six persons unrelated to him over several days, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a jail term of up to six months and a fine of up to $2,000 on each count.
On May 27, Beeville resident Melva Kay Ponce, 53, was indicted in Bee County on a charge of illegal voting. She allegedly posed as her deceased mother during early mail-in voting in the November 2004 election. Illegal voting is a third-degree felony punishable by two to10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
Ponce mailed an application for a mail ballot to the Bee County Clerk’s office for her mother, Dominga Ponce, on Oct. 15, 2004, when her mother was still alive. Her mother died of natural causes on Oct. 20, and two days later the clerk’s office mailed a ballot addressed to Dominga Ponce. Despite her mother’s death, Melva Kay Ponce filled out the absentee ballot in her mother’s name. She then mailed the completed ballot back to the clerk.
The Bee County Voter Registrar, Andrea Gibbud, contacted the Bee County Sheriff’s Office about the suspicious ballot, knowing Ponce’s mother had died before the ballot could have been completed and returned.
The Attorney General’s Office investigated the allegations of election fraud at the request of the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.
If you know, who are the Democrats and who the Republicans?
I would suspect they are all Democrats since the story omits that bit of information, but one would hope anyone caught would be fully punished.
This was obviously his first trip to South Texas.
SO9
Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
Hardeman County is in Northwest Texas, and is bordered on the north by Oklahoma.:^)
taking the broken window approach i like it
I'm Texan and I still can't keep track of all the counties.
SO9
Swinney: BUMPING THE THREAD.
Flyer/Humblegunner: Red1 possibly? Just a thought.
Johnny Akers appears to be a democrat. I had to look at the cached Google pages to get around the registration for the direct links.
No doubt you are correct.
Yet they still lie and deny bias.
Had they been Republicans they would have deffinately been so designated.
You see even felons are not guilty according to the press just Republicans.
We honor the secret ballot in this country.
Individual voters' choices are not public record unless the voter himself chooses to divulge who he voted for.
You misunderstood my point. I was not asking how they voted, I was asking whether they are Democrats or Republicans?
For people reading Free Republic in other states, we have no idea as to party affiliation unless the story or the poster informs us.
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