Fayette County’s district attorney will seek to empanel a grand jury to investigate allegations that poll workers told voters for whom to cast ballots as a write-in candidate for Bullskin supervisor.
The announcement on Thursday by Jack Heneks Jr. came shortly after the Election Board voted unanimously to forward the allegations to his office.
In addition, at the board’s request, Heneks said he will look into separate allegations that signatures were forged on nominating petitions for a failed candidate for state representative, and that a state representative improperly signed documents attesting to signatures on petitions for a county-wide referendum.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
Heneks stressed that only the Bullskin allegations will be part of his presentment seeking to empanel the grand jury. He said he must first review the unrelated allegations involving the forged signatures and improperly signed affidavits before deciding whether they should go to a grand jury.
In March, Heneks announced his intention to seek President Judge Gerald Solomon’s approval to convene an investigating grand jury that would look into a variety of criminal matters, but he has not yet made his presentment. The Bullskin allegations, Heneks said yesterday, will now be made part of his presentment for the grand jury.
The Election Board, which is comprised of all three county commissioners, voted to forward the Bullskin allegations to Heneks at the request of David Butler, who lost a bid for Bullskin supervisor in the November 2011 election. Butler lost in the fall to incumbent Scott Keefer, who lost the spring primary but won in the fall upon mounting a write-in campaign against Butler.
In addition to alleging that poll workers in Bullskin’s District 2 told voters whose name to write in on their ballots, Butler contends that absentee ballots were not counted in that district, and that his poll workers were “repeatedly chased away” from the inside of the polling location.
“It’s not a fair election in Bullskin,” Butler told the election board yesterday.
Heneks said his office and state police initiated an investigation into the Bullskin allegations shortly after they were brought to his attention after the election.
At the request of state Rep. Tim Mahoney, the board asked Heneks to look into allegations that signatures were forged on the nominating petitions of Michael Cavanagh, a Uniontown man who tried unsuccessfully to run against Mahoney.
Mahoney said he hired a private investigator after noticing numerous voters’ signatures on two of Cavanagh’s petitions appeared to be similar. The investigator, Lee W. England, advised Mahoney that 27 people whose names appear on Cavanagh’s petitions told him that they did not sign the petitions.
All 27 provided written affidavits to that effect, Mahoney said.
“We’re talking about people getting their identities stolen,” Mahoney said. “We’re talking about attorneys’ names being forged. … We’re talking about widows’ names being forged.”
Among those whose signatures were allegedly forged, Mahoney said, were a Roman Catholic priest, a police officer and an attorney.
Cavanagh, who attended yesterday’s meeting, denied the allegations.
“I never, ever, have ever frauded any signature on any petition in my life,” Cavanagh said.
At Cavanagh’s request, the board voted to forward to Heneks allegations that Mahoney improperly signed affidavits attesting to signatures on a petition for a failed ballot measure.
Mahoney in 2011 wanted a nonbinding, advisory referendum placed on the ballot to consolidate school districts. A judge denied the petition when two residents challenged its legality.
Cavanagh contends that Mahoney should not have signed affidavits attesting to the signatures because he had others gather them. The board voted to forward the allegations to Heneks, even though its solicitor, Sheryl Heid, said election law allows such affidavits in regard to ballot referendums.
Cavanagh tried to run against Mahoney in the spring for the Democratic nomination for state representative in the 51st District, but the courts struck his name from the ballot because of a criminal conviction for insurance fraud.
