Voting for City Council races in Camilla, Georgia were disrupted last November when two local officials resigned and the mayor said the elections were canceled.
CAMILLA, Ga. — A south Georgia mayor and two former local officials in the small town have been indicted in an election interference case related to municipal special elections that were held the same day as the presidential race last year.
The incident in Camilla, Georgia on Election Day 2024 caused some confusion and accusations of voter suppression to benefit President Donald Trump — however the general election was run by the county; what was at issue in Camilla were two City Council seats.
RELATED: No, general election voting was not shut down in this south Georgia town
A court order at the time said the city’s election superintendent, Rhunette Williford and deputy election superintendent, Cheryl Ford, resigned the night before Election Day. A City Council work session that same night indicated the municipal elections were canceled, and Mayor Kelvin Owens the next day “personally placed signs on the doors” of City Hall stating it was canceled, according to the court.
Now, a grand jury in Mitchell County has determined charges of election interference and conspiracy to commit election fraud are warranted in the episode.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had investigated the incident, announcing this week it completed its investigation and gave the case file to South Georgia Judicial Circuit District Attorney Joseph K. Mulholland.
A grand jury returned a true bill of indictment on Wednesday.
Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs shared a press release objecting to the charges on social media: “The arrests have shocked the community and raised serious concerns about the ongoing targeting of public officials who upheld the integrity of our local electoral process. We have been informed that none of the three officials will be allowed to appear before a judge until Monday at 9:00 AM, a delay for which Magistrate Judge Bubba Lamb has not provided clear justification.”
The indictment contains 13 counts against Owens, Williford and Ford, who was also the city clerk at the time.
It alleges Owens illegally interfered in elections by instructing the city’s police chief to “post officers outside the polling places to prevent anyone, including poll officers and citizens desiring to vote, form entering into the polling place and casting votes.” It further alleges Williford and Ford committed election interference by resigning their positions the night before Election Day as part of an effort to prevent anyone from voting in the city council races.
The mayor is additionally accused of conspiracy to commit election fraud on the grounds that he “did instruct city employees to take down election signage indicating where polling places were located” and “did personally affix signage on the door of the polling place stating that the election was canceled.”
Ford and Williford are also accused of failing to post notices that ballots for one candidate would not be counted because the candidate was ruled ineligible.
In all, Owens faces one count of interference with elections and two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud; Ford faces three counts of interference with elections, one count of conspiracy to commit election fraud and two counts of failure of public officer to perform duty; Williford faces two counts of interference with elections, one count of conspiracy to commit election fraud and one count of failure of public officer to perform duty.
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