Latest news with #KelvinOwens
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- 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.
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Georgia mayor, 2 others jailed on felony charges for trying to halt local election
The mayor of a small city in Georgia and two former election officials have been jailed on felony charges stemming from efforts last November to halt a local election after one of the mayor's allies was disqualified from a city council race. Camilla Mayor Kelvin Owens was being held at the Mitchell County jail Friday, two days after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of election interference and a misdemeanor count of conspiring to commit election fraud. Also jailed were the city's former elections superintendent, Rhunette Williford; and her former deputy superintendent, Cheryl Ford, who is currently Camilla's city clerk. Advertisement 5 Camilla, Ga. Mayor Kelvin Owens was arrested on election interference charges. City of Camilla, Ga. They were charged with the same crimes as the mayor, plus misdemeanor counts of failing to perform their duties as public officers. Chaos roiled special elections for a pair of city council seats in Camilla last November amid a long-running legal battle over local politics in the town, a farming community of about 5,000 people in rural southwest Georgia. Advertisement The case revolved around Venterra Pollard, a city council member removed from office last summer after a judge ruled he wasn't a Camilla resident. Pollard ran to regain the position in the fall special election. Another judge ordered Pollard disqualified and ruled that votes for him should be discarded. In addition, the city was ordered to post signs saying votes for Pollard wouldn't be counted. On Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, both Williford and Ford quit as the city's two top elections officials. Advertisement 5 Camilla Mayor Kelvin Owens was being held at the Mitchell County jail Friday, two days after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of election interference. Kelvin Owens/Facebook Their joint resignation letter blamed 'mental duress, stress and coercion experienced by recent court decisions regarding our role in elections.' Owens, citing his emergency powers as mayor, moved swiftly to halt the city's elections. Signs posted at City Hall and a notice on Facebook declared the election was canceled. Advertisement Polling places were closed to both poll workers and voters in the morning. The elections were held, albeit several hours behind schedule, after Superior Court Judge Heather Lanier appointed new supervisors to oversee the voting and ordered polls to remain open until nearly 4 a.m. Elections for president, Congress and other offices weren't affected. 5 Signs posted at City Hall and a notice on Facebook declared the election was canceled. WALB News 10/YouTube 5 Camilla is a farming community of about 5,000 people in rural southwest Georgia. WALB News 10/YouTube Mayor Owens had blamed the local upheaval on racial politics, saying that Pollard, who is Black, was targeted by white residents trying to wrest power from the majority Black population. The city of Camilla is nearly three-fourths Black. The Georgia NAACP said in a statement on Facebook that it was 'deeply alarmed' by the allegations of election interference as well as the arrests of Owens and the two former election officials, all of whom are Black. 'We were shocked that there were indictments,' said Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP. 'We are still in a fact-finding mode to see what actually happened.' Advertisement 5 A woman enters a polling station in the city of Camilla, Georgia. WALB News 10/YouTube All three defendants remained in jail awaiting a hearing Monday. It was not immediately known if any of them had attorneys who could speak for them. Messages seeking comment were left at two phone numbers for Owens. Advertisement The Associated Press could not find working phone numbers for Williford or Ford. District Attorney Joe Mulholland, whose circuit includes Camilla, declined to comment on the indictment Friday.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Georgia mayor and two others jailed for trying to halt local election
CAMILLA, Ga. (WSAV) — The mayor of Camilla, Ga., and two former election officials have been jailed on felony charges stemming from efforts last November to halt a local election after one of the mayor's allies, Venterra Pollard, was disqualified from a city council race. Mayor Kelvin Owens was held at the Mitchell County jail Friday, two days after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of election interference and a misdemeanor count of conspiring to commit election fraud. Camilla, a farming community of about 5,000 people, is about 225 miles from Savannah. The city's former elections superintendent and her former deputy superintendent were also jailed. Rhunette Williford and Cheryl Ford were charged with the same crimes as the mayor, plus misdemeanor counts of failing to perform their duties as public officers. Mayor Owens had blamed the local upheaval on racial politics, saying that Pollard, who is Black, was targeted by white residents trying to wrest power from the majority Black population. The city of Camilla is nearly three-fourths Black. All three defendants remained in jail awaiting a hearing Monday. District Attorney Joe Mulholland, whose circuit includes Camilla, declined to comment on the indictment Friday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Georgia mayor and 2 others are jailed on felony charges for trying to halt a local election
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The mayor of a small city in Georgia and two former election officials have been jailed on felony charges stemming from efforts last November to halt a local election after one of the mayor's allies was disqualified from a city council race. Camilla Mayor Kelvin Owens was being held at the Mitchell County jail Friday, two days after a grand jury indicted him on a felony charge of election interference and a misdemeanor count of conspiring to commit election fraud. Also jailed were the city's former elections superintendent, Rhunette Williford; and her former deputy superintendent, Cheryl Ford, who is currently Camilla's city clerk. They were charged with the same crimes as the mayor, plus misdemeanor counts of failing to perform their duties as public officers. Chaos roiled special elections for a pair of city council seats in Camilla last November amid a long-running legal battle over local politics in the town, a farming community of about 5,000 people in rural southwest Georgia. The case revolved around Venterra Pollard, a city council member removed from office last summer after a judge ruled he wasn't a Camilla resident. Pollard ran to regain the position in the fall special election. Another judge ordered Pollard disqualified and ruled that votes for him should be discarded. In addition, the city was ordered to post signs saying votes for Pollard wouldn't be counted. On Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, both Williford and Ford quit as the city's two top elections officials. Their joint resignation letter blamed 'mental duress, stress and coercion experienced by recent court decisions regarding our role in elections.' Owens, citing his emergency powers as mayor, moved swiftly to halt the city's elections. Signs posted at City Hall and a notice on Facebook declared the election was canceled. Polling places were closed to both poll workers and voters in the morning. The elections were held, albeit several hours behind schedule, after Superior Court Judge Heather Lanier appointed new supervisors to oversee the voting and ordered polls to remain open until nearly 4 a.m. Elections for president, Congress and other offices weren't affected. Mayor Owens had blamed the local upheaval on racial politics, saying that Pollard, who is Black, was targeted by white residents trying to wrest power from the majority Black population. The city of Camilla is nearly three-fourths Black. The Georgia NAACP said in a statement on Facebook that it was 'deeply alarmed' by the allegations of election interference as well as the arrests of Owens and the two former election officials, all of whom are Black. 'We were shocked that there were indictments,' said Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP. 'We are still in a fact-finding mode to see what actually happened.' All three defendants remained in jail awaiting a hearing Monday. It was not immediately known if any of them had attorneys who could speak for them. Messages seeking comment were left at two phone numbers for Owens. The Associated Press could not find working phone numbers for Williford or Ford. District Attorney Joe Mulholland, whose circuit includes Camilla, declined to comment on the indictment Friday.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- 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.
