Ex-W.Va. county official to plead in vote probe
CHARLESTON (AP) — An ongoing federal probe into southern West Virginia election fraud is on track to land another guilty plea.
Former Lincoln County Commissioner Thomas Ramey Jr. is scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors allege the 32-year-old Democrat lied to an FBI agent about absentee ballot applications.
Ramey was questioned after federal and state investigators uncovered a scheme to hijack that county’s 2010 Democratic primary with fraudulent absentee ballots.
The probe previously ensnared Lincoln County Clerk Donald Whitten and Sheriff Jerry Bowman. Both left office before pleading guilty.
Ramey resigned after prosecutors filed the felony charge against him last month. He is slated to plead guilty Wednesday as part of an apparent agreement with prosecutors.
