Latest news with #CamillaCityCouncil
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Camilla mayor, clerk, elections supervisor free on bond
CAMILLA – The city of Camilla's mayor, clerk and elections superintendent walked free after a bond hearing held Friday. Mayor Kelvin Owens was released on a bond of $6,000, City Clerk Cheryl Ford was released on a $10,000 bond, and Elections Superintendent Rhunette Williford was released on a $7,000 bond. The three city officials were arrested on May 28 and charged with election interference and other charges. This was the same day a Mitchell County Grand Jury returned an indictment against the trio. The Grand Jury handed down the 13-count indictment on Wednesday in relation to a November special election for an unexpired Camilla City Council seat that was ultimately won by council member Azalee Vereen. On Election Day, the city's special election was canceled, and voters were barred from voting. The special election resumed at 4 p.m. that day, running until 4 a.m.. The arrests follow a lengthy legal case involving two former city council members who were ruled ineligible to serve because they could not prove they were residents of Camilla. No bond hearing had been held in that case as of Monday morning.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Camilla mayor arrested, charged with election interference
CAMILLA – Three city of Camilla officials, including Mayor Kelvin Owens, Election Superintendent Rhunette Williford and City Clerk Cheryl Ford, were arrested on Wednesday on election interference and other charges, the same day a Mitchell County Grand Jury returned an indictment against them. The Grand Jury handed down the 13-count indictment on Wednesday in relation to a November special election for an unexpired Camilla City Council seat that was ultimately won by council member Azalee Vereen. The arrests follow a lengthy legal case over two former city council members who were ruled ineligible to serve because they could not prove they were residents of Camilla. No bond hearing had been held in the case as of Thursday afternoon, and all three suspects remained at the Mitchell County Jail as of noon. The November election was a memorable one for residents as it saw polls remain open until 4 a.m. on Nov. 5. The special election initially was cancelled following the resignations of Ford and Williford on the previous day, leaving no one to open the polling place in downtown Camilla. However, a judge appointed new election workers on Election Day, and the polls opened shortly before 4 p.m., remaining open for the required 12 hours. The Nov. 4 general election was held separately from the city special election and was unaffected by the snafu with the city. In the first count of the indictment, Owens is charged with interference with elections. The mayor is accused of 'willfully (attempting) to prevent a poll officer from holding an election' by instructing the city's police chief to post officers outside the polling place to prevent poll officers and voters from entering the building, according to the indictment. Owens also is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud. In those indictments, he is accused of conspiring with Ford and Williford. In furthering this conspiracy, the indictment said, Owens canceled the election during a Nov. 4 meeting, instructed employees to remove election signage indicating where polls were located and personally placed a sign at the polling place announcing the cancellation. Ford was indicted on three counts of interference with elections, conspiracy to commit election fraud and two counts of failure of a public officer to perform their duty. She is accused of resigning her position the day prior to the election in order to prevent voting from occurring, attempting to prevent a poll officer from holding an election and of failing to post signage stating that any ballots cast for Ventarra Pollard would not be counted due to his ineligibility to run for office in the city. Pollard, along with former council member Corey Morgan, were initially ruled ineligible to run for office in July 2023 by a senior Superior Court judge from outside the South Georgia Judicial Circuit, a decision that was upheld in 2024 by the Georgia Court of Appeals. Williford was indicted on two counts of interference with elections, conspiracy to commit election fraud and failure of a public officer to perform her duties. She is accused of resigning her position the day prior to the election in order to prevent poll workers and voters from entering the polling place and in furtherance of the conspiracy to prevent the election from proceeding as scheduled. The investigation was initiated at the request of South Georgia Judicial Circuit Judge Joseph Mulhollaind on Dec. 2, 2024, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced in a press release on Thursday. The agency presented its investigative findings to Mulholland's office prior to the district attorney's presentation of the case to the Grand Jury. During a previous interview with The Albany Herald, Owens said that he, Pollard and Morgan, along with council member Raimond Burley, represented the city's 'first progressive black voting block' and that this had upset some within the city. Two Camilla residents filed a lawsuit in November 2022 challenging the residency of Pollard and Morgan.
