Alabama Official Indicted on Voter Fraud Charges, Ballot ‘Stuffing’ in Democratic Primary

An election worker opens envelopes containing vote-by-mail ballots in a file photo. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

The chairman of Alabama’s Perry County Commission was indicted on felony and misdemeanor voter fraud charges in connection to the midterm primary and general elections, officials said.

Albert Turner Jr., the official who’s also the son of a well-known civil rights activist, was charged with voting multiple times in Alabama’s primary elections in the spring of 2022 and for allegedly ballot harvesting during the Nov. 8, 2022, midterm elections, according to a joint statement from Alabama Secretary of State John H. Merrill and 4th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Michael Jackson issued on Jan. 11.

Turner was allegedly caught inserting multiple ballots into a voting machine in May 2022 during the Alabama Democratic primary, Jackson said. It isn’t clear what candidates he submitted the ballots for.

“He was there most of the day stuffing filled-out ballots in favor of the candidates he was supporting,” Jackson told media outlets on Jan. 11. “Witnesses came forward, and we felt we had enough to present to a Perry County grand jury.”

In November 2022, Turner allegedly mailed in an undisclosed number of absentee ballots, according to Jackson and Merrill.

Perry County Commissioner, District 1, Albert Turner Jr. (Perry County)

“It is alleged that Mr. Turner presented multiple completed absentee ballots for mailing from the U.S. Post Office,” the statement reads. “Both of these matters are currently under investigation.”

When asked about whether the alleged fraudulent activity could impact the outcome of elections, Merrill said that “it is not appropriate at this time to comment because a lot of variables that factor into that decision and these matters are currently under investigation,” according to the statement.

“Since January 19, 2015, we have worked extraordinarily hard to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat in Alabama,” Merrill’s office stated. “While the accused is innocent until proven guilty, it is important to know that this incident, just like the other 1,805 incidents we have investigated over the last eight years, will receive the full attention of this office as we confirm for the people for the State of Alabama that we are the gold standard for election administration in the United States.”

Lengthy Response

Responding to the charges, Turner told The Associated Press that he’s aware of the charges but did nothing inappropriate or illegal.

“I am not concerned about any charge he has announced and I will not waste any energy on political theatre. It is mighty funny that Little Mike waited until he was leaving office to make his charge, because he knows he can’t prove his case,” Turner told AP.

Turner didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

A Jan. 11 statement that was issued by a Facebook account associated with Turner said he’s also “not concerned about Michael Jackson and his bogus change of ballot stuffing and mailing too many absentee ballots,” suggesting that the indictment was politically motivated.

“The people were tired of politically motivated prosecutions by an incompetent district attorney,” the page reads. “It is not going unnoticed that two days before he leaves office for good, he sends out a press release before he gets an arrest warrant or notifies the accused of the charges. Chairman Turner [stated] he has not received any paperwork outlining the charges against him. Sheriff Jones when contacted has not received any paperwork to arrest the Chairman.”

The statement also said that Turner agrees that the ballot box was stuffed during last year’s elections but “not by him.“ Instead, it was done ”by the people of Perry County and the 4th Judicial District,“ according to the statement, which also claimed that Merrill—who’s set to leave office—is a ”womanizer.”

“Merrill was at Turner’s courthouse office two weeks ago asking that the Chairman throw him some business at his new government relation job with a Mississippi-based engineering firm,” the statement reads.

Turner was first named to the county commission in 2000 to serve the remainder of his father’s term. He’s since won several reelections, AL.com reported.

His father, Albert Turner, was a civil rights activist who had been an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr., and he helped lead the voting rights march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital Montgomery in 1965.

Alabama has seen seven convictions of voter fraud in the past eight years, Merrill’s office said in the statement. Those with information relating to instances of voter fraud or the case are advised to call the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office at [phone].