I have very mixed emotions about the Circuit Court decision throwing out Lincoln County’s Circuit Clerk election results.  Why?

First and foremost, my parents were two of those absentee voters.  Dad and Mom, who are in their late 80s and 70s, find it difficult to go anywhere, much less to the polls on Election Day.  So when Jerry Bowman and Donald Whitten came to visit, they were very happy to take the men up on their offer to assist them in casting absentee ballots.  Unfortunately, their votes (which generally cancel mine out) were called into question because others did not have valid reasons to cast absentee ballots.

So many people acquitted themselves so poorly in this latest Lincoln County voting scandal that it’s hard to identify the worst offender.  Thomas Ramey, Jerry Bowman, and Donald Whitten ran around getting all kinds of people to cast absentee ballots in clear violation of the law.  On election night, Donald Whitten appears to have delayed the release of election results to disguise what had happened.  On the other side, Commissioner Charles Vance accused Ramey, Bowman, and Whitten of voting dead people, which ended up not being true.  Prosecuting Attorney Jackie Stevens then declared Charles Vance’s charges false and gave the election a clean bill of health.  In the end, Jerry Bowman appears to have settled the case in part to avoid testifying under oath and otherwise helping federal prosecutors make a case against him.

Four of these men will continue to serve as elected officials.  How many scandals will it take before Lincoln County throws out the political factions and elects a slate of candidates who are not corrupt?  Today, I am glad I live in Putnam County.