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Libertarian Candidate for Alabama House Files Election Challenge That May Have Led to Alabama GOP Representative’s Arrest — 8 Comments

  1. More details in this article: https://1819news.com/news/item/district-10-rep-david-cole-arrested-charged-with-voter-fraud

    Cole won the House District 10 seat with 51.6% of the vote in the general election. Marilyn Lands, a Democrat, received 45%, and Boyd won 3.4%.

    Boyd filed a complaint for contesting the election in Madison County Circuit Court on November 22, alleging Cole wasn’t eligible under state law to serve as State Representative for House District 10 due to him not being a resident of the district and him not being a resident of the district for one year prior to the general election on November 8.

    Alabama’s constitution requires state representatives to be citizens and residents of the state for three years and residents of their respective counties or districts for one year before their election.

  2. The arrest is for voting at an unauthorized or multiple locations.

    It is conceivable that he voted where he was registered, but on his application swore that he lived in the new district.

  3. There’s Indian reservations in Alabama. Atmore for example. Not up in Huntsville or Madison though.

  4. America’s Mare: “What’s with all these criminal politicians lately?”

    HOllow Moon: “Politicians have always been criminal.”

    Agreed. Lord Acton had it right. “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

  5. David Coles has resigned as part of a plea deal.

    https://www.alreporter.com/2023/08/31/david-cole-resigns-house-seat-will-plead-guilty-serve-jail-time/

    In 2022, the Alabama Republican Party had knocked Anson Knowles off the primary ballot (allegedly) because of his past activity with the Libertarian Party, but perhaps because Knowles had raised the issue of Coles residence with the party. Knowles fired off e-mails and letters and press statements.

    Knowles’ complaints appear eventually to have resulted in an election contest by the Libertarian candidate Elijah Boyd. This appears to have gone nowhere. IIUC, the Alabama House would have heard an election contest. But Boyd had made a civil complaint which eventually led to a deposition which appears to have established that Coles had established a fake residence in the district he had run in. He had voted based on that “residence”, thus committing election fraud.

    Redistricting in 2021 had left Coles about 1/2 mile outside the district he had planned to run in. So before the November 2021 deadline to establish a one year period of residency before the November 2022 election he had leased a 5×5 space in a friend’s house within the district.

    In the deposition in May, he could not recall whether he had ever slept at the new residence, and couldn’t recall why his wife and kids had not moved. He had also received tax benefits based on his former residence based on the owner’s primary residence.

    As part of the plea deal he will serve 60 days in the Madison Couny Jail, and then three years probation. Had he been convicted, it might have resulted in him not only not able to vote and serve in the legislature, but to practice medicine.

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