Thursday, February 03, 2000
Possible vote fraud examined
Addresses questioned in Fairfield
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — Butler County officials are investigating possible voter fraud in Fairfield's First Ward in the Nov. 2 City Council election.
First Ward Councilman Jon Saylor is among 27 people who have been subpoenaed to a Feb. 10 hearing before the Butler County Board of Elections at the Government Services Center in Hamilton.
The issue surfaced when board of elections staff noticed inconsistencies in addresses on voter registrations and absentee ballots, said Robert Mosketti, board of elections director.
The staff brought the problem to the attention of elections officials, he said.
“There was enough evidence to make the board believe we needed an investigation,” said Carlos Todd, one of four elections board members.
Mr. Mosketti said he could not reveal more details until the investigation is complete.
Mr. Saylor is the only public official who has been subpoenaed, Mr. Mosketti said. The board also wants a friend of Mr. Saylor, Cynthia McCloud, to testify.
Mr. Saylor beat Mike Snyder for the First Ward's council seat, 820-678, or 55 percent to 45 percent.
Mr. Saylor said he believes the board is investigating an allegation that he tried to talk people who lived outside the First Ward into voting in the ward.
He said the allegation is false and said he is a victim of Republican politics.
Mr. Saylor, 27, is one of the few Democratic elected officials in Republican-dominated Butler County.
“It's totally politically charged,” he said. “They're making me out to be a criminal and I'm not.”
He said he doesn't expect to receive fair treatment from the election board. The board is made up of two Republicans and two Democrats.
Mr. Todd, chairman of the Butler County Republican Party, said political affiliation will have no effect on the investigation.
It took Butler County sheriff's deputies at least three days to serve Mr. Saylor with his subpoena, and they still haven't been able to serve Ms. McCloud, said Detective Sgt. Mike Craft of the Butler County Sheriff's Department.
Law-enforcement officers had left messages on Mr. Saylor's answering machine, had paged him on his city pager and had stopped at his parents' house and at two different apartments, said Sgt. Craft.
Mr. Saylor responded to none of the messages or pages, he said.
Deputies went to his apartment in the Oaks at Woodbridge complex on Friday evening. They could hear the television and people's voices inside the apartment, Sgt. Craft said, but no one responded to the doorbell or their voices. Deputies planned to return the next day, but in the parking lot they noticed that Ms. McCloud's car contained bags of groceries, he said.
Fearful that somebody might be in danger, they returned to the apartment with the complex's manager, Sgt. Craft said.
The manager unlocked the door, but an inside latch prevented them from opening it more than a couple of inches.
Deputies announced who they were and one deputy saw a man run down a hallway.
“They thought somebody was in trouble,” Sgt. Craft said. “So the manager put his shoulder into the door and opened it.”
After deputies called to him, Mr. Saylor came out of a hallway bathroom, he said. Deputies served Mr. Saylor with his subpoena, but Mr. Saylor told them Ms. McCloud wasn't there, he said.
Mr. Saylor said deputies improperly entered his apartment. He said he and Ms. McCloud have not been avoiding the subpoenas.
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