64-year-old Columbus man fined $10K for election-related felony
A Columbus man has been fined $10,000 for election falsification for registering to vote in two counties in Nebraska in the 2020 general election.
Larry Divis of Columbus was found guilty of the felony at a trial in August.
On Wednesday, Colfax County District Court Judge Christina Marroquin sentenced the 64-year-old to the fine and costs, finding him not a suitable candidate for probation.
He faced up to two years of incarceration on the charge.
According to state prosecutors, Divis registered for and voted in an election in Richland, a village in Colfax County, despite already being registered to vote in Platte County.
At trial, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office said he had voted in the Richland election because he was angry at the five members of the village board over changes to nuisance property ordinances pertaining to piled-up junk on local properties and a plan to tear down the Richland Town Hall.
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Divis, who is from the village of Richland east of Columbus, owned a home that his brother had lived in as well as several mechanic shops. He also owns a home in Columbus, which he said he purchased as a home for his longtime girlfriend.
His attorney maintained Divis was living in Richland when he registered to vote in Colfax County.
Employees of Montgomery County in suburban Philadelphia wheel voting machines into the front hallway of a local high school two weeks before Election Day. This is poll worker training day. Dozens of poll workers go through a dry-run of procedures before voting starts in Pennsylvania, a state with a close U.S. Senate race that could determine which party controls the chamber. For many, the training is a refresher course. Barbara Rieck served in her first election 10 years ago. I’m a glutton for detail, says Rieck, a retired pharmaceutical supplies coordinator. Handling the paperwork for the election is fun for me. There are also new poll workers in the mix. Lisa, who declines to share her last name, says she signed up partly because of doubts about the last presidential race. Does she think the 2020 election was stolen? Kind of, she answers. Working the election will help her believe voting is secure, she explains. Because when I’m seeing it, I believe it and I know what’s happening for real, Lisa says. When I’m not seeing something, it’s hard to believe because you’re not seeing it. Groups spreading false information about the 2020 election are encouraging supporters to get involved in the voting process this year. Audit The Vote PA claims, baselessly, that the 2020 election was stolen. Toni Shuppe, the groups leader, turned down Newsy’s request for an interview. Shuppe has said enlisting poll workers and watchers is one of the most important ways to ensure voting is fair. The mainstream is trying to paint us all as election deniers and crazy kooks, Shuppe says in a video posted to Audit The Vote PAs Facebook page. All we want is an accurate count at the end of the day, and for both parties to be able to walk away from the election comfortable that the certified result is going to reflect what the voters wanted. Audit The Vote PA, and the Election Integrity Force, a national group supporting former President Donald Trump, are particularly focused on boosting numbers of poll watchers. Unlike poll workers, who check in voters and handle ballots, watchers observe voting. Pennsylvania allows certified watchers to review voter lists and challenge a voters identity. Audit The Vote PA says it has trained 6,000 people to serve as poll watchers this year. Does it deter fraud necessarily? No. But I have to believe that just having eyes in there, if somebody has been paid to stuff the ballot box in their precinct, they’ll think twice if there’s eyes on it, Shuppe says in another video posted to Facebook. There have been isolated reports of aggressive observers causing disruptions in the name of election integrity. A report from Pima County, Arizona, described an increase in private citizens during primary voting this summer demanding to gain access to our facilities to observe. Sometimes these individuals were loud, actively filming or otherwise harassing voters and/or early voting site workers. Election officials across the country tell Newsy they are aware misinformed poll workers and watchers could cause trouble. We do have concerns that, they’re obviously, they’re coming in with known biases, says Carly Koppes, clerk and recorder for Weld County, Colorado. They’re having a set goal of trying to find what they believe are flaws and fraud in our election process. Election officials say they often know less about the poll watchers planning to be in precincts compared to poll workers. While Pennsylvania county boards of election certify official observers, they come from political parties and candidates and may not go through the rigorous coaching of a poll worker. Since poll watchers are recruited by the candidates and the campaigns directly, I don’t get an opportunity to interface with them one-on-one or in a setting like this ahead of the election, Montgomery County Voter Services Director Dori Sawyer tells election workers gathered for training. Sawyer says instructions for poll watchers are printed on the back of their certificate to assist with setting expectations. She and other local voting officials contacted for this story expressed faith that common safeguards in polling places should keep voting secure. As in many states, Pennsylvania strives for a bipartisan split among poll workers. Watchers must stay in a designated space away from voters. Precincts have an election judge with the authority to remove anyone who tries to intimidate a voter or gets too close to someone casting a ballot. I’m confident that if any issues do arise, that our team is primed and ready to tackle whatever comes our way,” Sawyer says. Handle it with grace, and swiftly, and efficiently. Working or observing an election can turn a skeptic into a believer
A look at the 19 people charged in the Georgia indictment connected to Trump’s election scheme
Intro
Donald Trump and 18 other associates were charged Monday in Georgia as part of a sweeping indictment alleging they schemed to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss and stop the peaceful transition of power.
The indictment, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (pictured), follows an investigation that lasted more than two years and marks the fourth criminal case brought against the former president.
Those charged in Monday’s indictment face a slew of charges, including racketeering, violating the oath of a public officer, forgery, false statements and other offenses. Prosecutors say they must all surrender to authorities by Aug. 25.
Here’s a look at the 19 defendants charged in the indictment:
Donald Trump
DONALD TRUMP: Then-President Donald Trump fixated on Georgia after the 2020 general election, refusing to accept his narrow loss in the state and making unfounded assertions of widespread election fraud there. He also called top state officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp, to urge them to find a way to reverse his loss in the state. In a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump suggested the state’s top elections official could help “find” the votes needed for him to win the state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened an investigation into possible illegal attempts to influence the election shortly after a recording of that call was made public.
Rudy Giuliani
RUDY GIULIANI: During several legislative hearings at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney promoted unsupported allegations of widespread election fraud in Georgia. Prosecutors have said Rudy Giuliani was also involved a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans serve as fake electors, falsely swearing that Trump had won the 2020 presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
John Eastman
JOHN EASTMAN: A former dean of Chapman University law school in Southern California, John Eastman, one of Trump’s lawyers, was deeply involved in some of his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election. He wrote a memo arguing that Trump could remain in power if then-Vice President Mike Pence overturned the results of the election during a joint session of Congress where electoral votes would be counted. That plan included putting in place a slate of “alternate” electors in seven battleground states, including Georgia, who would falsely certify that Trump had won their states.
Mark Meadows
MARK MEADOWS: Trump’s chief of staff visited Cobb County, in the Atlanta suburbs, while state investigators were conducting an audit of the signatures on absentee ballot envelopes in December 2020. Mark Meadows obtained the phone number of the chief investigator for the secretary of state’s office, Frances Watson, and passed it along to Trump, who called her. He also participated in the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Sidney Powell
SIDNEY POWELL: A lawyer and staunch Trump ally, Sidney Powell was part of a group who met at the South Carolina home of conservative attorney Lin Wood in November 2020 “for the purpose of exploring options to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere,” prosecutors have said. Wood, who’s licensed in Georgia, said Powell asked him to help find Georgia residents to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits contesting the state’s election results. Additionally, emails and documents obtained through subpoenas in an unrelated lawsuit have shown that Powell was involved in arranging for a computer forensics team to travel to rural Coffee County, about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, to copy data and software from elections equipment there in January 2021.
Jeffrey Clark
JEFFREY CLARK: A U.S. Justice Department official who championed Trump’s false claims of election fraud, Jeffrey Clark presented colleagues with a draft letter pushing Georgia officials to convene a special legislative session on the election results, according to testimony before the U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Clark wanted the letter sent, but Justice Department superiors refused.
Jenna Ellis
JENNA ELLIS: The lawyer appeared with Rudy Giuliani at a Dec. 3, 2020, hearing hosted by state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol during which false allegations of election fraud were made. Jenna Ellis also wrote at least two legal memos to Trump and his attorneys advising that Pence should “disregard certified electoral college votes from Georgia and other purportedly ‘contested’ states” when Congress met to certify the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors have said.
David Shafer
DAVID SHAFER: The chairman of the Georgia GOP, Shafer was one of 16 state Republicans who met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won and also declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. He also joined Trump in a lawsuit challenging the certification of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Cathy Latham
CATHY LATHAM: One of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors, Cathy Latham (pictured at right in photo) was also chair of the Coffee County Republican Party. She was at the county elections office for much of the day on Jan. 7, 2021, and welcomed a computer forensics team that arrived to copy software and data from the county’s election equipment in what the secretary of state’s office has said was “unauthorized access” to the machines.
About the photo: In this Jan. 7, 2021, image taken from Coffee County, Ga., security video, Cathy Latham, right, appears to take a selfie with a member of a computer forensics team inside the local elections office. Latham was the county Republican Party chair at the time.
Kenneth Chesebro
Prosecutors have said Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney, worked with Georgia Republicans in the weeks after the November 2020 election at the direction of Trump’s campaign. Chesebro worked on the coordination and execution of a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate declaring falsely that Trump won and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
Ray Smith
A Georgia-based lawyer, Ray Smith was involved in multiple lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. He also gathered witnesses to provide testimony before Georgia legislative subcommittee hearings held in December 2020 on alleged issues with the state’s election.
Robert Cheeley
A Georgia lawyer, Robert Cheeley presented video clips to legislators of election workers at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and alleged the workers were counting votes twice or sometimes three times. He spoke to the lawmakers after Giuliani.
Michael Roman
A former White House aide who served as the director of Trump’s election day operations, Michael Roman was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election.
Shawn Still
He was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Shawn Still was the finance chairman for the state GOP in 2020 and served as a Georgia delegate to the Republican National Convention that year. He was elected to the Georgia state Senate in November 2022 and represents a district in Atlanta’s suburbs.
Stephen Cliffgard Lee
Prosecutors say Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a pastor, worked with others to try to pressure Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman and her mother after Trump and his allies falsely accused them of pulling fraudulent ballots from a suitcase during the vote count. Lee allegedly knocked on Freeman’s door, frightening her and causing her to call 911 three times, prosecutors said in a court filing last year.
Harrison William Prescott Floyd
Also known as Willie Lewis Floyd III, he served as director of Black Voices for Trump, and is accused of recruiting Lee to arrange a meeting with Freeman and Chicago-based publicist Trevian Kutti.
Trevian C. Kutti
Prosecutors allege publicist Trevian C. Kutti claimed to have high level law enforcement connections. They say Freeman met with Kutti at a police precinct, where she brought Floyd into the conversation on a speakerphone. Prosecutors say Kutti presented herself as someone who could help Freeman but then pressured her to falsely confess to election fraud.
Scott Graham Hall
An Atlanta-area bail bondsman, Scott Graham Hall was allegedly involved in commandeering voting information that was the property of Dominion Voting Systems from Coffee County, a small south Georgia jurisdiction. Also charged in the scheme were Powell, Latham and former county elections supervisor Misty Hampton.
Misty Hampton
She was the elections director in Coffee County. Misty Hampton was present in the county elections office on Jan. 7, 2021, when a computer forensics team copied software and data from the county’s election equipment. She also allowed two other men who had been active in efforts to question the 2020 election results to access the elections office later that month and to spend hours inside with the equipment.
Donald Trump indicted for the 4th time
Read the Trump indictment in Georgia
Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSpilger
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