A state board has asked the state attorney general's office to investigate possible criminal charges in McIntyre's disputed 2008 mayor's elections.

A report from the state Inspector General's office says investigators found at least eight violations of state law, including three ineligible voters who cast ballots.

On Oct. 26, the state elections board voted to refer the matter to the attorney general's office.

It took the city four elections to settle the mayor's race between Wanda Dean and Vicki Horn.

McIntyre is in Wilkinson County. The U.S. Census says its population last year was 713.

The state inspector general report gives this account of the case:

Nobody got a majority in the Feb. 5, 2008 election between Dean and Horn, so a runoff was scheduled.

Dean won the runoff by one vote and took office, but a judge ordered a new election after finding out that one voter, Clara Edmond, was not allowed to vote.

Horn won the next race by nine votes, July 15, 2008, but another election was ordered after the registrar of voters, Tracy Strange, acknowledged that nine ineligible voters cast ballots.

On the fourth vote on the race, on Sept. 16, 2008, Horne was elected by 26 votes.

The state election board investigated Dean's complaint that the Wilkinson County board of elections allowed ineligible people to vote, that voters didn't have privacy when they cast votes, and that sample ballots were not displayed properly to show people how to vote.

Wanda Dean says she met with state officials in October 2008 when she filed her complaint.

She says she was told she would hear back from them within a month, but never did.

Dean says this is the first she is hearing about the case moving forward.