Election Fraud Cases

Andrew Grant

Andrew Grant, a city alderman in Canton, tried to buy at least one person's vote in the 2017 municipal election in which he was running. Grant was charged with four counts of voter fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit voter. Grant pleaded guilty to one conspiracy charge. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, which was suspended, and he resigned from office.

Source: https://herit.ag/3vKm2v4, https://herit.ag/3xiBI8h

Dio Braxton

Dio Braxton, of Hoboken, participated in a scheme to pay certain Hoboken voters $50 each if those voters applied for and cast mail-in ballots for candidate (and longtime Hoboken political player) Frank “Pupie” Raia for a seat on the Hoboken City Council and for a rent-control referendum during the 2013 Hoboken municipal election. Dio was charged with and pleaded guilty to one count of use of the mails to promote a voter bribery scheme. He is awaiting sentencing.

Source: bit.ly/3xb6Ass , bit.ly/3gmdhSp , bit.ly/3arOk43 , bit.ly/2QHLP6U

Frank Raia

Longtime Hoboken politico Frank “Pupie” Raia was convicted following a jury trial of “conspiracy to violate the federal Travel Act for causing the mails to be used in aid of voter bribery” in connection to a 2013 municipal election. Raia was at the center of a vote-by-mail bribery scheme in which he directed campaign workers to pay residents $50 for voting for his council slate (including himself) and for a rent-control referendum that he favored. Raia’s initial sentence was vacated by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and he is awaiting resentencing.  

Source: https://herit.ag/3i7aYmL , https://herit.ag/3iRgh8R

Matthew Calicchio

Matthew Calicchio bribed voters with $50 to cast mail-in ballots in a 2013 municipal election in Hoboken to support  a rent-control referendum and city council candidate (and longtime Hoboken political player) Frank “Pupie” Raia.  Calicchio did the same thing in a 2015 municipal election to support another candidate for City Council. Calicchio pleaded guilty to using the mails to promote voter bribery. He was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $100.

Source: bit.ly/3gr0Nsv , bit.ly/3amKFo3 , bit.ly/3sqVPhW

Brian K. "Wormy" Hodge

Brian "Wormy" Hodge, a reserve deputy with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, conspired with Betty Best to buy votes for Randy White's campaign for sheriff. White narrowly won the race, but was subsequently removed from the post. The pair paid between $20 and $40 per vote. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to buy votes, mainly of absentee ballots. Hodge was sentenced to a five-year probation term and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. The judge waived the associated fine.

Source: https://herit.ag/3l1pb6p, https://herit.ag/3nPboRT

Lizaida Camis

Lizaida Camis, of Hoboken, acted illegally by attempting to bribe voters with $50 to send in mail-in ballots to support candidate (and longtime Hoboken political player) Frank “Pupie” Raia for a seat on the Hoboken City Council and a rent-control referendum during the 2013 Hoboken municipal election. Camis was charged with and pleaded guilty to one count of use of the mails to promote a voter bribery scheme. She was sentenced to six months’ probation and fined $100.

Source: bit.ly/3gusDEn , bit.ly/3v4OdDr

Betty Best

Betty Best, of Monroe County, conspired with Brian "Wormy" Hodge to buy votes for Randy White's campaign for Sheriff. White narrowly won the race, but was subsequently removed from the post. The pair paid between $20 and $40 per vote. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to buy votes, mainly absentee ballots. Best was sentenced to three years of probation.

Source: https://herit.ag/2Ww4gOV, https://herit.ag/3tTpFy1

Gary Risner, Larry Shepherd, Tami Jo Risner, Scott McCarty

Magoffin County Magistrate Gary Risner, Deputy County Clerk Larry Shepherd, and Tami Jo Risner (his ex-wife) were convicted of felony voter fraud for a vote buying scheme for a host of candidates in the 2014 election. An accomplice, Scotty L. McCarty, was also charged but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and testified against the others. His testimony revealed that the group had participated in vote buying conspiracies in elections dating back to 2010. He also testified that Larry Shepherd contributed $10,000 and Risner contributed $2,000 to the vote buying racquet, paying individuals $50 to vote for their slate of candidates. Shepherd also revealed that in a 2010 election, while acting as a precinct officer, he added 60 votes to the total for a candidate, and Risner signed the names of those who hadn't voted to cover the discrepancy. The U.S. District Judge scheduled sentencing for December 2016, with the charges carrying a maximum penalty of five years.

Source: https://herit.ag/2UV3YQT

Scott Lynn McCarty

Scott McCarty pleaded guilty to bribing a voter in the 2014 Kentucky primary elections. McCarty admitted to accompanying a woman into a voting booth to make sure she voted for the right candidates. Afterwards, McCarty directed the woman to another person who would pay her for her vote. McCarty is to be sentenced in May and faces up to a year in prison.

Source: https://herit.ag/3yc36FW

Stanley Leger

In the 2014 Turkey Creek election, incumbent mayor Heather Cloud was voted out of office by a margin of four votes. It was later revealed that Stanley Leger, a campaign employee for challenger Bert Campbell, had paid $15 each to four mentally impaired individuals in exchange for their promise to vote for Campbell. Cloud challenged the election. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals of Louisiana ordered that the four votes be struck and a new election be held, which Cloud won. Leger later pleaded guilty to illegal electioneering, receiving a suspended six-month jail sentence and 18 months' probation. He was also ordered to pay a $500 fine and $2,000 in restitution to Mayor Cloud.

Source: https://herit.ag/3rEwCBV, https://herit.ag/3zH51CV, https://herit.ag/3yb4kRM

Max Sanders

Max Sanders, a student at the University of Minnesota, was charged with bribery, treating, and solicitation after offering to sell his vote to the highest bidder on eBay. Offering to buy or sell a vote is a felony under an 1893 Minnesota law. He was sentenced to 50 hours' community service. The charges will be dismissed if he completes his community service within six months.

Source: https://herit.ag/3i9o9mU, https://herit.ag/3BKBA4L, https://herit.ag/3iVp7mc

Francisco "Frankie" Garcia, Rebecca Gonzalez, Diana Balderas Castaneda, and Guadalupe Escamilla

In the Donna School Board race, four campaign workers participated in a scheme that involved buying votes with cocaine, cash, beer, and cigarettes. All four pleaded guilty; Garcia received an 18-month sentence, and Castaneda received an eight-month sentence with credit for cooperating against her co-defendants.

Source: bit.ly/2e8xPPu, bit.ly/2uesT2u

James Steven Robinson, Ruth Thomasine Robinson, James Robinson

Ruth Robinson, the former mayor of Martin, Kentucky, was sentenced to 90 months' imprisonment on a variety of charges that included vote buying, identity theft, and fraud. With specific regard to the election charges, Robinson and co-conspirators James "Red" Robinson (her husband) and James Steven Robinson (her son) threatened and intimidated residents of Martin in the run-up to the 2012 election in which Robinson was seeking re-election. The cabal targeted residents living in public housing or in properties Robinson owned, threatening them with eviction if they did not sign absentee ballots the Robinsons had already filled out. Robinson also targeted disabled residents and offered to buy the votes of others. "Red" Robinson was sentenced to 40 months in prison, and his son James Steven Robinson received a total of 31 months' imprisonment.

Source: https://herit.ag/3f4jVeF

Belinda Solis and Veronica Saldivar

Two campaign workers pleaded guilty in the Southern District of Texas for paying voters to vote in two 2012 elections in Hidalgo County, Texas. In an elaborate vote-buying scheme, Belina Solis and Veronica Saldivar offered "baggies" of cocaine and money in exchange for votes for local and county candidates. After an extensive FBI investigation, they both pleaded guilty to one count of vote-buying.

Source: https://herit.ag/3f2jVMh

Hudson Hallum, Kent Hallum, Phillip Wayne Carter, and Sam Malone

Democratic Rep. Hudson Hallum, his father Kent Hallum, and two campaign workers, Phillip Wayne Carter and Sam Malone, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit election fraud. The lawmaker's campaign bribed absentee voters and destroyed ballots in the Arkansas District 54 primary, runoff, and general elections in 2011. Hudson Hallam was sentenced to one year of home detention, three years' probation, and was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. Kent Hallum received probation and nine months' home confinement. Sam Malone received three years' probation (7.2 months of which was home confinement), and 100 hours of community service. Carter received three years' probation (five months of which was monitored home confinement) 100 hours of community service, and a $2,500 fine.

Source: https://herit.ag/3BJy3nb, https://herit.ag/3iS6Kyo