 [Cincinnati.com] Calling her a common criminal who abused her authority as a poll worker by violating the principle of "one person, one vote," a judge sent Melowese Richardson to prison Wednesday for five years following her illegal voting conviction.
"This is not a little thing. It's not a minor thing. This is what our country's based on -- free elections," Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman told Richardson.
In a case watched around the country, Richardson was a Hamilton County poll worker from 1998 until her arrest earlier this year when she was charged with eight counts of illegal voting. In May, she accepted a plea deal and was convicted of four counts in exchange for the other four being dismissed.
She was convicted of voting twice in the 2012 election and voting three times -- in 2008, 2011 and 2012 -- for her sister, Montez Richardson, who has been in a coma since 2003.
Richardson told the judge she was bothered that Amy Searcy, the Board of Elections director, had criticized her moments before the sentencing. Richardson, 58, of Madisonville, said for years she helped register Democrats to vote
| How many of those were legitimate, one wonders... |
but now was being persecuted despite her decades as a poll worker.
"I think the board has shown me nothing but total disrespect for the 30 years I've served them," she told the judge. "I believe in the system and I've done nothing to harm the system
or cause disgrace to President B.O.."
| You got caught, my dear. Our beloved president does not approve of his people getting caught. |
The conservative, outspoken judge responded with scathing comments, blasting Richardson for suggesting she was being prosecuted because she was a black Democrat helping a black Democratic presidential candidate.
"It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with politics. It has nothing to do with disrespecting you. You did this to yourself," Ruehlman told her.
"You're very selfish, self-centered. I really believe President B.O., if he were asked about this today, he would be appalled. He would not want anybody to cheat to get elected."
| Someone should find out if she was ever connected to ACORN. This could be fun! |
Ruehlman noted that two others convicted of illegal voting before Richardson got much lighter sentences but stressed their cases were different.
The judge noted Richardson deserved a prison sentence, which was one year less than the maximum possible, because she has a lengthy criminal record, schemed repeatedly over five years to cast several illegal votes and used her training and expertise as a poll worker to try to evade detection.
Richardson previously was convicted of threatening to kill a witness in a criminal case against her brother, of stealing, of drunken driving and of beating someone in a bar fight.
| Wanted on twelve systems, that one is. |
Anything short of a prison sentence, Assistant Prosecutor Bill Anderson told the judge, would be an attack on the voting system.
As a poll worker, "her job is actually to protect the integrity and sanctity of the voting system," Anderson said. "(She) is an ideologue who was hell bent on stuffing the ballot box with as many Obama votes as possible."
| And how many others have done the same? Cincinnati has a history of votes being bought and sold for the price of a beer. Though to be fair, that kind of thing started long before the Civil War, and Cincinnati is a town that likes its traditions. |
Bill Gallagher, Richardson's lawyer, suspected she would be sent to prison but was surprised by the sentence. "I thought prison was a real possibility because of her record of 25 years ago," Gallagher said. "I don't think that the length of it was any where near what we expected."
Tim Burke wasn't surprised.
Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, had no sympathy for Richardson.
"It's very sad how she doesn't understand how she abused the trust that was placed in her as a poll worker," Burke said. "She frankly embarrassed the board and, in the process, all of us who trust in the system."
Three others -- Margaret I. Allen, 64, formerly of Loveland; Ernestine Strickland, 84, of Memphis, Tenn.; and Andre Wilson, 49, of Winton Hills -- have illegal voting cases pending. 
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