Reply #27: OH: Issue 4 petition workers accused of election fraud [View All]

[rumpel]

The Beacon Journal

Posted on Fri, Nov. 03, 2006

Associated Press
BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio - Ten people are accused of submitting petitions with names of dead people and forged signatures for a state issue on Tuesday's ballot that would ban smoking in most buildings, authorities said Friday.

The 87 petitions containing 2,003 signatures were declared invalid by the Logan County Board of Elections in August and turned over to authorities, said Lucinda Holycross, the elections board's director. It was not clear how many signatures were invalid.

The 10 have been charged with election fraud, a felony that carries a sentence of up to a year in prison, authorities said. All live in the Springfield and Dayton areas and most collected the signatures while working for a temporary agency.

Eric Stewart, assistant Logan County prosecutor, said the charge accuses the 10 of not witnessing the signatures put on the petitions as required by law

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/15922328.htm