Former Valdosta councilman indicted on voter fraud charges

VALDOSTA - A former Valdosta city councilman was indicted Friday on charges of voter fraud. <br> <br> The Lowndes County grand jury indicted Bunnis Williams, 63, on two counts of unlawful possession of ballots, two counts of offering to buy votes, forgery in the first degree, solicitation of false swearing and violation of the absentee ballot assistance oath law. Six of the charges are felonies. <br> <br> Williams lost his re-election bid in November to Willie Head. <br> <br> After his victory, Head challenged 11 absentee ballots cast during the election that he said were mailed to people who did not exist or to addresses where people had been coerced to vote for a certain candidate. <br> <br> In 1998, the State Board of Elections fined Williams $500 for possessing absentee ballots in a Democratic runoff election for the General Assembly. <br> <br> Williams said he did not know that possessing absentee ballots was illegal.