[AMGREATNESS] A judge has ordered a new special election for an alderman seat in Aberdeen, Mississippi, after more than three-quarters of absentee ballots cast in the Democrat runoff election last June were found to be invalid, the Monroe Journal reported. In a separate order, Judge Jeff Weill, of Jackson, also issued a bench warrant for the arrest of a notary who was involved in the fraudulent election.Candidate Robert Devaull filed the election contest last July against fellow Democrat Nicholas Holliday, who was certified as the winner of the Ward 1 alderman race. The results showed Devaull receiving 44 percent of the vote, compared to Holliday’s 56 percent in the June 16, 2020 Democratic run-off. The final tally of votes was 177 for Holliday and 140 for Devaull.
Although the fraud occurred on a very small scale, the details are eerily similar to the thousands of voter fraud allegations in the 2020 general election.
According to court documents, the election was fraught with substantial irregularities regarding the accepting and rejecting of absentee ballots. The court also concluded that errors were made in accepting and rejecting challenged ballots. The judge determined that a whopping 78 percent of the mail-in ballots proved to be invalid.
The Court documents state; "an election in which 66 ballots have been handled erroneously and in which the winner led by only 37 votes is an election in which these erroneously accepted or rejected ballots could change the results of the election. Since no one knows who those 66 ballots were voted for, it is clear that the will of the voters is impossible to discern, and there can be no confidence in the integrity of the outcome of the vote."
Judge Weill also brought up evidence of criminal voter intimidation and harassment at the polling place in his decision.
"The court is of the opinion there is probable cause that several individuals involved in the disturbances during election day at the polling precinct ’willfully and corruptly violated’ one or more of the above criminal statutes," the judge said. "The court will leave to the appropriate authorities to determine whether the actions of Maurice Howard, Henry Randle and S. Nicholas Holliday amounted to prosecutable crimes."
According to the Monroe Journal, Weill was referring to Police Chief Henry Randle and former Mayor Maurice Howard, who were allegedly "involved in intimidation and harassment at the polling police on Election Day."
In a separate result, Judge Weill ordered a bench warrant and set bond at $500 for Dallas Jones, who notarized absentee ballots for the election. According to court documents, Jones admitted to clear violations of notary duties, WCBI reported.