John Tully has voted in every Lincoln County election for the past 53 years.

Tully, 73, said county elections have been a corrupt system for as long as he can remember. He’s hopeful now that all future votes will count after federal prosecutors investigated and charged two county officials in connection to rigging the county’s 2010 Democratic primary election.

Lincoln County Sheriff Jerry Bowman and County Clerk Donald Whitten agreed to plead guilty Monday to charges they illegally manipulated absentee votes.

Tully said at this point in the county’s political history, no one should be surprised by corruption.

The most recent case of election fraud was discovered during an investigation in 2005, and two former Lincoln County officials, circuit clerk Greg Stowers and assessor Jerry Allen Weaver, were each sentenced to a year in prison for buying votes.

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