“font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;”>On Tuesday, April 5, the 9 p.m. KTVI Fox 2 news broadcast lead off with the news that, with all 25 precincts reporting, Carl E. Officer had defeated Alvin Parks Jr. by a margin of 2,218 votes to 2,047, to become the new mayor of East St. Louis.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Then, around 9:30 p.m. a sudden surge of about 3,000 absentee ballots were suddenly discovered and counted, swinging the election to Parks’ favor by a total of 796 votes.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>That’s either the biggest come-from-behind victory or the greatest case of vote fraud in ESL history.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>My own father, James H. Ingram, was a victim of absentee trickery, having received an absentee ballot which he never requested. Wisely, when he received the unsolicited ballot in the mail, I asked him to bring it with him to the polls on election day. When he arrived to cast his vote, he was informed that he had already voted.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Fortunately, I happened to be at the polls and witnessed the entire exchange. I informed the poll workers that he had not voted and had the unsolicited absentee ballot in his possession.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>The poll workers called the board of elections, who informed the workers to allow my father to vote after confiscating his absentee ballot and having him to sign an affidavit verifying that he had, indeed, not cast a previous ballot.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>That solved my father’s problem, but what about the approximately 3,700 absent ballots which were reportedly “requested” in advance of this election, versus only 577 absentee ballots requested in the last mayoral election?
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Of the 22,459 registered voters in ESL, only 7,649 (34 percent) even bothered to vote. Then approximately 3,700 absentee ballots were requested (nearly half the total number of voters who went to the polls), as opposed to only 577 absentee ballots requested only four years ago. Doesn’t that smell a little rotten?
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Why were the absentee ballots counted after the results from the 25 precincts were revealed? Sounds like the kind of funny math one engages in when one doesn’t like the true results.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>I’m not the only one who thinks that some questionable dealings may have transpired in this election. Reporter Betsy Bruce, of KTVI Fox 2, spoke to my father, as well as to ESL voter James White, who wasn’t allowed to vote after being told that he had already voted via absentee ballot.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>When Bruce checked the signatures on the absentee ballot application forms, they had been signed. The signature shown for my father during Bruce’s report was a forged signature, indicating that at least one instance of vote fraud occurred.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>How many other senior, deceased and others citizens were robbed of their vote by virtue of forgery or by those who voted illegally in their behalf?
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Then there are the 14,810 voters who (out of frustration, apathy or laziness) simply sat on their butts and allowed a handful of voters – and, possibly, vote thieves – to hijack and rob them of democracy and justice in ESL.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Carl Officer has threatened to take this matter to the U.S. Attorney as a possible civil rights violation.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>I understand his logic, given the countless lives that were sacrificed and lost over the voting rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement.
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>However, on a local level, James Lewis, head of ESL Board of Elections, and those within St. Clair County politics must exercise due diligence in regularly purging the voter rolls of deceased voters and being more proactive, particularly when there are unusually high requests for absentee ballots.
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>
“font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana;”>Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com. “font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;”>
