Arkansas Swamp Dweller: Prosecutor Refuses Prosecuting Voter Fraud
ARRA News Service Editor: Below is a significant letter to the editor by Mr. Hester that details a very significant injustice which has also provided the Jonesboro Sun with several top front page stories and editorials. Mr. Hester worked diligently against alcohol sales, developing numerous statistics that defied 'fake news' about the economic growth of wet counties. His LTE addresses the failure of a prosecuting attorney to prosecute voter fraud even after an Arkansas State Police investigation into Shady Grove Township voter fraud revealed the owners of the County Store asked people to change their voter registration to the township to sway the wet/dry ballot issue.
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by Bobby L. Hester, Letter to the Editor: The alleged voter fraud that took place in the Shady Grove Township in Greene County, AR which Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington has decided not to prosecute should anger every legitimate voter in northeast Arkansas.
Amazingly, Mr. Ellington compared the crime of voter fraud to someone driving with improper tags to the crime of voter fraud. According to him, a felony crime that is planned is no worse than a misdemeanor crime likely caused by an oversight and should be treated the same.
How similar are these contrasting crimes? According to a staff member at the court in Jonesboro, driving with improper tags is a misdemeanor and the fine is $125 including court costs.
Driving with improper tags is likely to be an oversight on the part of the perpetrator. Only one person is involved, the driver or owner of the car. This person is not attempting to influence a group to do something wrong.
On the other hand, voter fraud, in this case falsifying a voter registration form, is a felony with the penalty of a possible $10,000 fine and/or up to 5 years in prison under state and federal law. The penalty for a crime indicates the seriousness of the crime.
Was there an attempt to influence the outcome of an election with this "alleged" voter fraud? Prosecutor Ellington gave as his primary reason for not proceeding to prosecute the case as a lack of knowledge by the suspects and a lack of evidence that could lead to a conviction.
Just a minute! Below are the facts.
"Supposedly, out of the blue," thirty people, mostly from the same town, all decided within a six week period and totally independently from each other, to move to a tiny, sparsely populated township in a different county where there are no dwellings for them to live. They didn't actually move but only changed their address to the new location.
These thirty people all decided to move into dilapidated campers and mobile homes located primarily at two locations in this township. These campers were only moved into the area shortly before these thirty individual changed their address. These "homes" had no utilities and thus actually uninhabitable. These places were checked several times before the election by a Jonesboro Sun reporter and by at least two other people. It was apparent that no one lived in these campers and trailers any time before the election or after the election.
Thirteen of the thirty accidentally changed their address to the address of the Old General Store which would lose its license to sell alcohol if the township went dry. Nine addresses were located at another location where there were three campers and an old trailer house, all obviously unoccupied.
Most of the camper owners then registered to vote within a six week period in the same small township and all accidentally put a wrong address on a voter registration form.
The above happened very shortly before an election on a wet/dry vote would be held which also would directly affect several of those thirty. Is it possible for even one of these incidents to happen let alone 30 people without there being some kind of conspiracy to affect the wet/dry election outcome?
Why did Prosecuting Attorney Ellington not want to do his job in relation to this case? If the breaking of the law in this case was intentional, and all evidence clearly indicates it was, it was to influence the outcome of an election that affected all of us as citizens in our democracy.
This was a crime against all citizens of Arkansas and the U.S. Without a fair, honest, legitimate vote, democracy is meaningless. This situation must be dealt with; otherwise, our laws are pointless.
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Bobby L. Hester resides in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Tags: Bobby Hester, letter to editor, voter fraud, Arkansas, Shady Grove Township, individuals, changed voter registration, camper trailers, to sway, wet/dry ballot issue To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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Amazingly, Mr. Ellington compared the crime of voter fraud to someone driving with improper tags to the crime of voter fraud. According to him, a felony crime that is planned is no worse than a misdemeanor crime likely caused by an oversight and should be treated the same.
How similar are these contrasting crimes? According to a staff member at the court in Jonesboro, driving with improper tags is a misdemeanor and the fine is $125 including court costs.
Driving with improper tags is likely to be an oversight on the part of the perpetrator. Only one person is involved, the driver or owner of the car. This person is not attempting to influence a group to do something wrong.
On the other hand, voter fraud, in this case falsifying a voter registration form, is a felony with the penalty of a possible $10,000 fine and/or up to 5 years in prison under state and federal law. The penalty for a crime indicates the seriousness of the crime.
Was there an attempt to influence the outcome of an election with this "alleged" voter fraud? Prosecutor Ellington gave as his primary reason for not proceeding to prosecute the case as a lack of knowledge by the suspects and a lack of evidence that could lead to a conviction.
Just a minute! Below are the facts.
"Supposedly, out of the blue," thirty people, mostly from the same town, all decided within a six week period and totally independently from each other, to move to a tiny, sparsely populated township in a different county where there are no dwellings for them to live. They didn't actually move but only changed their address to the new location.
These thirty people all decided to move into dilapidated campers and mobile homes located primarily at two locations in this township. These campers were only moved into the area shortly before these thirty individual changed their address. These "homes" had no utilities and thus actually uninhabitable. These places were checked several times before the election by a Jonesboro Sun reporter and by at least two other people. It was apparent that no one lived in these campers and trailers any time before the election or after the election.
Thirteen of the thirty accidentally changed their address to the address of the Old General Store which would lose its license to sell alcohol if the township went dry. Nine addresses were located at another location where there were three campers and an old trailer house, all obviously unoccupied.
Most of the camper owners then registered to vote within a six week period in the same small township and all accidentally put a wrong address on a voter registration form.
The above happened very shortly before an election on a wet/dry vote would be held which also would directly affect several of those thirty. Is it possible for even one of these incidents to happen let alone 30 people without there being some kind of conspiracy to affect the wet/dry election outcome?
Why did Prosecuting Attorney Ellington not want to do his job in relation to this case? If the breaking of the law in this case was intentional, and all evidence clearly indicates it was, it was to influence the outcome of an election that affected all of us as citizens in our democracy.
This was a crime against all citizens of Arkansas and the U.S. Without a fair, honest, legitimate vote, democracy is meaningless. This situation must be dealt with; otherwise, our laws are pointless.
----------------
Bobby L. Hester resides in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Tags: Bobby Hester, letter to editor, voter fraud, Arkansas, Shady Grove Township, individuals, changed voter registration, camper trailers, to sway, wet/dry ballot issue To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 4:11 PM - Post Link
3 Comments:
Democrats like Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington, who previously lost in a race against Rep Rick Crawford, have expressed worry over the Russians affecting the 2016 elections.
But Ellington actions reveal he is not at all concerned about voter fraud by people who did Not live in the subject voting district before or after an election. How can the citizens trust Ellington for fairness and to pursue justice when he refuses to prosecute individuals committing felonies in the voting process.
Another public "servant" serving only demasses and that needs to be removed from office.
Ellington failed to do his job. If you do that in the private sector you get fired. #draintheswamp
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