Gate City indictment.

I have to admit that I haven’t been following the tightening noose in Gate City, VA in the matter of the election fraud there recently. I know that Jerry Kilgore’s mother, Willie Mae Kilgore, is caught up in all of it, as the Scott County Registrar of Voters, and I know that the investigation keeps on catching more and more people in this ever-widening scandal.

So I was surprised to read today that former Gate City Mayor Charles Dougherty Jr. has been indicted on 18 counts of aiding and abetting in violating the absentee voting process, 17 counts of making a false statement on an absentee ballot application, and two counts of conspiracy. He’s facing a sentence up to 370 years for rigging the May 2004 election.

Today also came comments from Gate City’s current mayor, Mark Jenkins (the victim of Doughterty’s fraud), going after would-be governor Jerry Kilgore for turning a blind eye to the fraud and the Kilgore family for being a part of the problem. The Roanoke Times writes:

The mayor of Jerry Kilgore’s hometown says the gubernatorial candidate hindered an investigation last year when, as attorney general, he indicated that he saw no criminal wrongdoing in a disputed Gate City election.

[…]

Gate City Mayor Mark Jenkins, who lost the election but later got the mayor’s job after challenging the results in court, said he believes Kilgore’s comments to a local newspaper delayed a criminal investigation into the matter.

A July 2004 article in the Kingsport (Tenn.) Times-News quoted Kilgore as saying that while mistakes were made, “no one appears to have done anything deliberately.”

Kilgore also said Gate City needed to “move on.” The Republican has since stepped down as attorney general to run for governor.

Jenkins said it was inappropriate for the then-attorney general to publicly downplay a controversy that involved both his hometown and his mother, Willie Mae Kilgore, the longtime voter registrar of Scott County.

None of the Kilgores (Jerry, Willie Mae, brother Del. Terry, father Scott County Republican chair, and brother head of the county economic development authority) have been charged with anything, but the sort of control that they have over the county has raised eyebrows among some (including Jenkins), who say that such a scandal couldn’t happen without their say-so.

I’ll certainly be paying closer attention to this as it plays out.

(Via Raising Kaine)

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

One reply on “Gate City indictment.”

  1. Yes, breaking election law is breaking election law. But this was a stupid law in the first place. People shouldn’t have to have a special reason to vote with an absentee ballot. Most states allow anyone who wants to vote absentee to do so without requiring an explanation. Virginia has stubbornly kept a stature on it’s books which doesn’t really make any sense.

    I would like to be able to vote with an absentee ballot because it’s the only way that my vote will have a paper trail. Like many other Virginians I do not trust black box electronic voting any farther than I can see it (which of course is not at all). The idea that electronically balloted elections will not be hacked and rigged is absurd. The stakes are so high and so many people in so many places have so much riding on the outcome of elections. Of course it’s going happen. To steal a conventionally balloted election is darn near impossible nowadays. You’d have to have a huge conspiracy of people intercepting or inserting physical pieces of paper in multiple districts simultaneously. But an electronic vote only takes a very few talented hackers with a little bit of inside information. Anyone with a couple of million dollars and the will to commit fraud can steal an election now.

    With government generally unwilling to say ‘no’ to electronic balloting, we only have one hope remaining to ensure that our votes are counted. Absentee ballots. The law that Kilgore’s political cronies are accused of violating is an unjust law that stands in the way of legitimate elections. Striking this law down is important enough to call a special legislative session ahead of the November election. Otherwise, I and many other Virginians are being put in a position where we have to choose between committing fraud or potentially flushing our votes down the toilet.

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