DILLON — A possible case of voter fraud has been forwarded to the Election Commission after a resident said someone fraudulently filled out an absentee ballot for her, according to Cliff Arnette with Dillon County Sheriff’s Office.
The resident went to her precinct to vote Tuesday in the primary runoff, but when she got there poll workers told her she’d already voted absentee, according to Dillon County Voter Registration Director Suzy Edwards.
The resident said she had not voted absentee.
Edwards said she and the resident examined the signature on the stub and it didn’t appear to match.
The resident was given the stub so she could turn it over to investigators, Edwards said.
Larry K. Abraham, Chief Deputy at the Dillon County sheriff’s department, said voting with an absentee ballot requires a witness to sign off on the ballot before it is sent in.
“The individual in question that signed as a witness on that particular ballot — they signed as a witness on several absentee ballots,” Abraham said.
Abraham said the sheriff’s department would continue to verify the authenticity of the other absentee ballots the witness signed off on.
He said between 15 and 20 ballots might have the same witness signature and that all of those ballots are being investigated.
This is the first possible case of voter fraud in the county this year, Edwards said.
Voter fraud is what the Dillon County Political Action Committee (PAC) aims to prevent.
The group announced this month it’s offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the first successful conviction of voter fraud.
The reward offer came after PAC members said they have been told someone was trying to buy votes for certain candidates to help them win their respective elections in the June 8 primary, said Bo McInnis, PAC co-chairman.
PAC members are asking residents who might know of a person or a group trying to alter election results to call Crime Stoppers of the Pee Dee. The PAC reward is in addition to any that might be given by Crime Stoppers for an arrest made in connection with a case.
In an earlier report, PAC members said voter fraud in Dillon County is possible because it has happened before.
On Feb. 2, 1981, then-state Sen. Albert Eugene Carmichael and his employee, Joe Grady Flowers, were indicted for conspiracy, obstruction of justice and buying absentee ballots in connection with the June 10, 1980, Democratic primary in Dillon County.
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