A decision on whether to file charges against two men each accused of casting two ballots in the recent preferential primary elections will be made by Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney S. Kyle Hunter, the county Election Commission decided in a unanimous vote Tuesday night.
Commissioners briefly discussed dropping the matter, but Chairman Trey Ashcraft said the panel should direct the issue to Hunter and allow him to determine whether any laws were violated and if charges should be filed against either or both of the accused, Mike E. Malone of Pine Bluff and Martin D. Golden of Wabbaseka. That was the action decided upon in a meeting last Thursday.
“We can investigate, but it’s the prosecutor’s role to decide if charges should be filed,” Ashcraft said Tuesday.
The panel’s action followed a Friday email from Secretary Stu Soffer in which Soffer said, “The County Board of Election Commissioners has decided not to prepare documents referring Martin D. Golden to the prosecuting attorney” for the alleged violation.
Soffer said in his communication, “The decision was made based on information not available during (Thursday’s) meeting warranting further discussion.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
In response to a reporter’s question about whether the commission had made a decision outside a public meeting, without advance notification to the media, Soffer said the panel had not met. Asked if the commissioners communicated about the issue by telephone or otherwise, Soffer said he and Ashcraft had discussed the situation in a telephone conversation.
Soffer later sent a revised email marked in its subject line as “CORRECTED.”
“I apologize for the correction but in my haste to protect Golden’s good name I inadvertently indicated what I shared was a board and not individual decision,” Soffer said in the revised email.
Contacted by phone, Ashcraft was asked if he and Commissioner Shara Williams had met, discussed or taken part in a vote on the matter with Soffer. Ashcraft said he had spoken with Soffer by phone but told him that Golden could present his case to commissioners in a public forum in adherence with state Freedom of Information Act guidelines
“There was no vote,” Ashcraft said. “The commission did not decide anything. The (original) email may have represented Stu’s opinion, but there was no commission action.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the commission asked that voters be reminded that if they marked Republican ballots during the preferential primary, they are ineligible to cast ballots in the June 12 runoff elections. Early voting for the runoffs will continue through Monday.