VALDOSTA - A former Valdosta City Councilman was indicted Friday on charges of voter fraud after a 10-month investigation. <br>
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Sixty-three-year-old Bunnis Williams was charged with six felonies and one misdemeanor in connection with an unsuccessful re-election bid in November 2001. <br>
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Williams was investigated following allegations of wrongdoing by his opponent Willie Head. <br>
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Head -- who defeated Williams -- requested the Lowndes County Board of Elections to closely monitor voting procedures in Valdosta's majority-black district prior to the election. <br>
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After his victory, Head challenged eleven 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 a certain way. <br>
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A Lowndes County grand jury indicted Williams 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. <br>
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In 1998, the State Board of Elections found Williams another former city councilman, Willie Rayford, in possession of absentee ballots in a Democratic runoff election for the General Assembly. <br>
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He was fined $500,000 and said he did not know that possession of absentee ballots was illegal. <br>
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If convicted on the current charges, Williams faces jail time and a hefty fine.
