50 days ago
At his arraignment at U.S. District Court in Dublin, 37-year-old Lawton Douglas and two other men pleaded not guilty to federal election fraud charges.
That's according to his attorney, Paul Kish of Atlanta. Kish declined further comment and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Savannah had no information on the arraignment.
Douglas, 43-year-old Olin "Bobo" Gibson of Helena and Thedy McLeod are charged with paying off voters in a July 2004 primary election and a runoff the next month.
The U.S. attorney says all three are each charged with six counts of election fraud.
Douglas won and served a four-year term. He left office in December after being defeated for re-election.
The indictment says Douglas' supporters took voters to the polls and stayed with them in the voting booth.
The indictment also says his supporters bought blank absentee ballots from voters and filled them out with Douglas' name. The document says they conspired to pay voters with cash, alcohol and drugs to get them to vote for Douglas.
Each man faces up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
