Losing East St. Louis mayoral candidates allege vote fraud in April 4 election

Lexi Cortes, Carolyn P Smith
·2 min read
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The incumbent and a local activist who each lost their run for East St. Louis mayor in the April 4 election recently shared allegations of vote fraud with the East St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, calling the integrity of the election into question.

Mayor Robert Eastern III, who lost his bid for a second term, and candidate Marie Franklin, a former organizer with the United Congregations of Metro-East, sent letters to the commissioners alleging payments for votes and ballots cast by people in other voters’ names. They asked the board to postpone certifying the election results until the allegations could be investigated.

But commissioners Joseph McCaskill, Darlene Morgan and David King voted Thursday to accept the election results, making the vote counts that show sitting city councilman Charles Powell III was elected the new mayor official.

The board, through its attorney, said it had no power to investigate fraud and referred those with criminal allegations instead to the police, state’s attorney or U.S. attorney.

Franklin and six of her supporters gathered Thursday at City Hall to publicly voice their concerns to the board. They also spoke to reporters during a news conference before the meeting started.

Franklin said she was concerned about the results in part because she observed provisional and absentee ballot counting this week. Provisional ballots are ones that were questioned at a polling place.

Mayoral candidate Marie Franklin and her supporters attend the East St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners meeting Thursday at City Hall to ask the commissioners to postpone certifying the April 4 election results until allegations of voter fraud can be investigated. The board, through its attorney, said it had no power to investigate. Commissioners voted Thursday to accept the election results.

Franklin said she urged vote counters to check the signatures, and 19 of about 30 ballots in one precinct alone had signatures that did not match the official signature on record. Those 19 ballots were thrown out, according to Franklin.

“The system is flawed, and they need to fix it,” Franklin said in an interview. “People are taking advantage of the system because it’s flawed.”

From the late 80s to the late 90s, Franklin worked for the Illinois State Police and made history as the first Black female trooper in the patrol division for southern Illinois.

Eastern, a former city councilman, was elected mayor in 2019.

Copies of Franklin’s and Eastern’s letters to the commissioners were provided to the Belleville News-Democrat.

Eastern sent a copy of his letter to St. Clair County State’s Attorney James Gomric, the Illinois State Board of Elections, the Illinois Attorney General, FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Rachelle Aud Crowe. Franklin said she also sent a copy of her letter to Gomric.

Marie Franklin Letter to Election Commissioners by jeffrycouch on Scribd

This is a breaking story. It will be updated.