Norwood supporters hint at election fraud in mayor’s race

; :Mary Norwood — sore loser or victim of election fraud?

The rumors began last week. Grand conspiracy theories involving mayoral campaign vans sighted in Clayton County, out-of-towners ferried in to Atlanta polling precincts, hundreds of voters claiming residence at public housing projects that don’t exist anymore.

For those grateful for the thought that the mayor’s race was behind us — give or take a recount — we’ve got bad news. While Councilwoman Mary Norwood awaits a re-tallying of votes in her wafer-thin loss to former state Sen. Kasim Reed, some of her supporters are investigating possible voting irregularities in the Dec. 1 runoff.

Other Norwood backers have gone on the offensive by suggesting — privately and publicly — that the city’s new Mayor-elect may have benefited from a coordinated effort to bring illegal voters to the polls, an action that amounts to criminal election fraud.

Erica Long, wife of state Rep. Ralph Long — a high-profile Norwood supporter — says that, after the Nov. 3 general election, the Norwood campaign discovered that nearly 1,400 ballots had been cast by people claiming to live in Grady Homes, Bankhead Courts, Englewood Manor and other former housing projects that have been demolished.

“We detected that those voters were registered at addresses that no longer exist,”  says Long, adding that she has filed a request with the Secretary of State’s office to get voter information from the Dec. 1 runoff to see if a similar phenomenon happened in that election.

In a rambling open e-mail sent to local media early this morning, neighborhood activist and fervent Norwood supporter Maceo Williams questions whether Reed’s “get-out-the-vote” workers might have committed multiple felonies by taking ineligible voters to the polls.

“When the numbers add up, did Mary Norwood actually win?” he asks.