TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama sorority and fraternity members, many of whom registered to vote illegally, wrongly swayed a city election after being urged to the polls by illegal offers of booze, concert tickets and peer pressure, a lawyer for a failed candidate told a judge Tuesday.
Attorney James Anderson urged Circuit Judge Jim Roberts to allow an election contest by Kelly Horwitz, who lost a city school board seat to Cason Kirby by 87 votes in August.
Anderson said there were widespread voting irregularities involving members of multiple Greek-letter social organizations at Alabama, where more than 7,000 undergraduates belong to fraternities and sororities
Members of one sorority were forced to remain in a basement until they registered to vote, and emails and Facebook messages went out to members of five sororities urging members or sororities to vote for Kirby, a former student government president at the university, Anderson said.
Members were told they’d receive free admission and alcohol at two bars for voting, Anderson said, but the scheme fell apart after agents with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board intervened. As many as 397 fraternity or sorority members may have cast tainted votes after registering improperly because they didn’t meet residency requirements, he argued.
A lawyer for Kirby, Andrew Campbell, asked the judge to stop the challenge before a trial currently set for Oct. 31. Anderson is using unsubstantiated media reports and rumors in an attempt to overturn Kirby’s victory, Campbell said.
“It’s character assassination. It’s group assassination,” Campbell argued.
