The chairman of Alabama’s Perry County Commission has been indicted on felony and misdemeanor counts of voter fraud in connection with both the primary and general elections during the midterms, officials announced Wednesday.
Albert Turner Jr. is accused of voting multiple times in the state’s primary elections last spring and of ballot harvesting during the midterm general elections in November, according to a release from Alabama’s secretary of state and Fourth Judicial Circuit District Attorney Michael Jackson.
Turner has been charged with violating state law prohibiting the fraudulent filling out of other people’s absentee ballots, and is currently under ongoing investigation.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) declined at a press conference to weigh in on how big an impact Turner’s actions may have had on Alabama’s primary and general election results.
The state has seen seven convictions of voter fraud within the last eight years, according to Merrill’s office.
A statement from a Facebook page for Turner said the commission chairman is “not concerned about Michael Jackson and his bogus change of ballot stuffing and mailing too many absentee ballots” and appeared to suggest the indictment was a political move from the district attorney.
The statement also says Turner agrees that the ballot box was stuffed during the elections, but “not by him.”