Alabama Secretary of State weighs in on Phenix City voting fraud

PHENIX CITY, AL (WTVM) - Allegations of voter fraud in the recent Phenix City District 2 City Council election has many up in arms.

"Somebody needs to tell them they don't need to do that because it's not legal from my standpoint," says Phenix City resident Jeanette Neal.

Voters in Phenix City are lashing out after a growing number of people allegedly used business addresses to register in the recent city council election between Vicky Carter Johnson and Baxley Oswalt.

This election is heading towards a run-off on December 19 and before that day comes, the secretary of state says these allegations should be taken care of.

"If someone happens to  be registered at a place other than their primary domicile as soon as that information is introduced to someone in authority it needs to be corrected," Secretary of State John Merrill says some voters may think its more beneficial to vote where they work versus where they live, but that's not what legally should happen, "if you live in a particular house if that's where you take your showers that's where you eat most of your food, then that's where you need to be registered to vote," Merrill says.

The voters who are said to be fraudulent could be prosecuted, but according to the state that would require proof that they were maliciously casting a ballot.

"Do we encourage people to vote where they work? No, we encourage people to vote where they live," Merrill explains.

District 1 City Councilman Steve Bailey says the nearly 100 people on the list that are being accused of casting fraudulent ballots have been voting in District 2 for years.

Bailey believes there were no harmful intentions and the voters simply didn't believe what they were doing was wrong because they have done it years before.

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