Democratic city councilman arrested, charged with eight counts of election fraud



A city councilman in Amite, Louisiana, was arrested and charged with eight counts of election fraud last week.

What are the details?

Emanuel Zanders III is accused of illegally registering nearly two dozen people to vote in his district amid his re-election in November, WAFB-TV reported.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced the charges on Jan. 6.

Landry said Zanders allegedly urged 22 people to list vacant lots as their home addresses so he could increase the number of people eligible to vote for him, the station reported.

Zanders "purposefully manipulated citizens into illegally changing their voter registrations," Landry said, according to WAFB.

The station said Zanders won re-election to his third term on the council by just 19 votes. He received 206 votes while his runoff opponent, Claire Bell, received 187 votes.

Landry said his office and Ardoin's office began investigating the case in October 2020 after getting a tip from the Tangipahoa Parish Registrar of Voters, WAFB reported.

The 52-year-old Democrat was booked into the Tangipahoa Parish Prison on Jan. 5 and has since bonded out, the Advocate reported, citing booking records. The paper added that Zanders could not be reached for comment.

What did state officials have to say?

"Anything other than a one-for-one vote distorts our election process," Landry said. "Those who wish to distort an election in this matter are breaking the law and betraying their fellow citizens. It is even more disheartening when the perpetrator is an elected official."

Ardoin added that "election integrity matters," and Zanders' arrest "should serve as a stark warning to those looking to violate our election laws."

Anything else?

A Texas woman was arrested on felony charges of election fraud, illegal voting, unlawfully assisting people voting by mail, and unlawfully possessing an official ballot, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Wednesday.

And Paxton said the suspect got caught on a Project Veritas video in the midst of "shocking and blatantly illegal action."

"Many continue to claim that there's no such thing as election fraud," the attorney general added. "We've always known that such a claim is false and misleading, and today we have additional hard evidence."

Project Veritas claims to expose illegal voter registration scheme in Georgia, but does not appear to show illegal activity



A new hidden camera video released by Project Veritas purports to expose illegal voter registration of homeless people in Georgia, but in fact highlights a practice that may be legal.

In the video, Georgia Central Outreach and Advocacy Center executive director Kimberly Parker admits to helping multiple homeless people register to vote using the same address. Project Veritas accused the Center of "illegally registering thousands of homeless to vote" at an address they do not reside at in Atlanta.

“We’ve done that for years!” Executive Director Kimberly Parker says... while admitting her organization has been i… https://t.co/sne9QWWfc3
— Project Veritas (@Project Veritas)1609823318.0

Parker explains, "So, the majority of the people we serve don't have an address, so we allow them to use our address if they register to vote and to get Georgia State ID."

The video notes that Georgia state law requires a person to vote where they live, and that "permitting someone to use a false statement on voter registration is illegal ... and punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment."

However, Georgia election law permits homeless people to register to vote using the address of somewhere they routinely stay, such as at a shelter or a church. If they do not stay at a location with an address, they may denote a park name or the closest intersection to where they sleep as their residence. They must also provide a mailing address where they can receive mail and may use the address of a shelter, church, charity, relative, or friend to do so.

"Because you have to have proof of residence and so although we're not a shelter, we do allow them to use 201 Washington Street," Parker continues. "So, I can't even begin to tell you how many people have that address on their ID. And we've never run into any problem with that until this election."

She adds that "one of our board members got wind that they thought we're doing things not on the up and up, because so many people have the address, but we've not heard any repercussion from it since."

The Central Outreach and Advocacy Center is an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization headquartered in the lower level of Central Presbyterian Church. The agency provides support services to Atlanta's homeless people, including helping them acquire government documents like ID cards or birth certificates, setting up medical appointments, and providing job and skills training to help them find work.

Also featured in the video is Adam Seeley, who is the director of social services for Emmaus House, another nonprofit organization that serves the Atlanta community, and also serves as a board member at the Central Night Shelter. Seeley states that his organization does not know how many people have used their address to register to vote.

"You know, we've always kind have been unsure at how many people were having us established as a mailing address in terms of a larger scope," Seeley said.

"One day I walked into Emmaus House to pick up the mail, and Beverly was like, one of our ladies, she's where the mail comes into our office, and she's like, 'you gotta get this stuff outta here.' And I'm like, 'what are you talking about?'

"And it was probably a couple thousand people that had our address registered as their mailing address for their voter registration," he continued. "And I was like, oh my god, so I'm looking through it and I'm like, well this guys is dead."

TheBlaze contacted Central Outreach and Advocacy Center and Emmaus House with requests for comment. Project Veritas also did immediately return a request for comment.