Fake Democratic Ballots Circulating in Prince George's County Maryland

PRINCE GEORGE'S CO. - The Maryland primary is still a week away but there are already allegations of election fraud coming out of Prince George’s County.

Candidates often hand out sample ballots to guide voters when they go to the polls. For instance, this year, there’s a pamphlet of Governor Martin O’Malley and leading Prince George’s County office-holders along with the names of the candidates they’ve endorsed.

Angela Alsobrooks is one of those candidates. She’s running for State’s Attorney in Prince George’s County but says she knew something was wrong as soon as a fake sample ballot arrived at her parent’s house.

"It lists me as running for two offices,’ Alsobrooks says. ’It has me listed as a candidate for State's Attorney as well as a candidate for Clerk of Court."

Alsobrooks says the fake ballot looks very similar so voters need to look at the details to determine which one is the fake. She points to the name of the campaign committee on the fake ballot.

’It lists `Citizens for Change.’ There’s no such entity registered in the State of Maryland,’ say Alsobrooks.

She says the fake ballot gives a phony treasurer and mailing address. It also claims State Senator C. Anthony Muse endorsed the candidates listed inside. But once you flip it open, the fake ballot tells you to vote for his opponent.

"It is a felony,’ Muse says. ’It is a federal offense violation of campaign law to have a campaign committee that doesn't exist."

Senator Muse says he blames three of the candidates listed on the fake ballot; his democratic opponent Albert Chatmon, House of Delegate candidate Kriselda Valderrama and County Council candidate Jerry Mathis. He says he saw their supporters handing out the fake ballots during early voting in Oxon Hill.

"I went to the three candidates who are the ones carrying it and I said to them, `These are fraudulent.
You can't carry this.’ Having potential lawmakers say to me, 'I don't care if we're breaking the law.’
That was basically what the response was until police went out and made these candidates put down these ballots."

FOX 5 called all three candidates Sunday and left messages asking for comment. FOX 5 had not received a response as of air time Sunday.

’This is frankly one of the types of things that made me decide to leave politics to start with," says current Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey.

Ivey says even though Alsobrooks wrote a letter to the Maryland Attorney General and the state’s U.S. Attorney demanding an investigation, the criminal investigation will take much longer than the election.

As a result, Ivey says there is really only one way to punish those responsible. "Make sure you find out who is doing this and punish them when you go to the ballot.’

Beginning Friday, September 3, Maryland residents can call the Attorney's General's voter hotline at 1-866-298-8245 or file a complaint via e-mail at voting@oag.state.md.us

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PG County Council Candidate Says He Handed Out Controversial Ballots in Oxon Hill
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2 Candidates Deny Accusation of Being Involved in Misleading Ballots
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