Heart of Dixie · Strange Charges
Absentee Ballots in Pickens County
Bozeman v. Lambert (1985)
Charge: Voting fraud (three counts) - allegedly casting elderly voters' absentee ballots without their permissionCourt: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (affirming M.D. Ala.)Docket: Strange Charges
Could the vote-fraud conviction stand on this evidence and charge?
The facts
Maggie Bozeman was a schoolteacher and civil rights organizer in rural Pickens County. During the 1978 Democratic primary runoff she and another activist helped elderly and illiterate Black voters with absentee ballots. The State charged that the women had ballots directed to their own addresses and cast votes for dozens of elderly residents without permission. An all-white Pickens County jury convicted her and she was sentenced to four years. After state appeals failed, she challenged the conviction in federal court.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Bozeman v. Lambert, Bozeman v. Lambert, 587 F. Supp. 1021 (M.D. Ala. 1984) (Civ. A. No. 83-H-579-N), aff'd, 762 F.2d 1022 (11th Cir. 1985) (table; No. 84-7286)
Read more at openjurist.org. The source reveals the outcome.