Another Metro East community is alleging voter fraud by elected official
By Deion Broxton
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WASHINGTON PARK, Illinois (KMOV) — Citizens in another Metro East municipality allege that voter fraud occurred before April’s election.
In March, at least two Washington Park residents filed police reports alleging that a current trustee paid them in exchange for voting for other candidates.
According to the reports, longtime Washington Park Trustee Ferris Williams paid one person $100 and another $10 in exchange for voting for candidates he backed in the April 4 election. Williams wasn’t up for reelection.
In an interview with News 4, Williams denied the allegations. Williams backed candidates Mary McKinney, Juliette Gosa and James Madkins, who all won. Trustees Debbie Moore and Clyde Jackson lost their re-election bids, candidates who Williams openly opposed.
“If I survived this long, I’m not going to mess up now,” Williams said. “Didn’t pay anybody to vote against them. The citizens spoke out on April the fourth. They were tired of a lot of things that was going on. They are trying to find some type of way to damage and destroy me.”
Williams told News 4 he spoke with investigators from the Washington Park Police Department. According to Williams, nothing resulted from the exchange.
“The election is over with, but when I found out about–you had two or three people to come in to make a police report–now I want to know what’s really going on,” Moore said.
The St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed to News 4 no charges had been filed against Williams. The office stated the Washington Park Police Department must conduct an investigation and then present those findings to the state’s attorney if it believes charges are warranted.
On Thursday, elected officials in East St. Louis made allegations of voter fraud as well. No charges have resulted from either municipality as of Monday night.
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