How can you conduct a voting rights rally when you celebrate a person convicted of a voting felony? Former Hamilton County poll worker Melowese Richardson gets a big hug from Al Sharpton as Ohio Democrats including Rep. Alicia Reece and Cincinnati National Action Network President Bobby Hilton “welcome home” the convicted multiple vote fraudster. Via The Enquirer: The Rev. Al Sharpton, keynote speaker at Thursday’s rally to kick-off the campaign for an Ohio Voters’ Bill of Rights Ohio Constitutional amendment, even hugged Melowese Richardson. The unseemly attention drew bipartisan criticism as even some Democrats “questioned the idea of applauding Richardson.” Of course, National Action Network founder Sharpton has his own past ties to voter fraud. Richardson was previously convicted of threatening to kill a witness in a criminal case against her brother; of stealing; of drunken driving; and of beating someone in a bar fight, according to past Enquirer stories.
Richardson, a Democrat, was convicted of voter fraud after using her position as poll worker to vote more than once in the 2012 presidential election. [Richardson was convicted on four counts of illegal voting; four other counts were dropped as part of her plea bargain.] She got a five year prison term, but was released earlier this month after local Democratic activists pressed for a fairer term.
But Richardson isn’t just a convicted fraudster. Apparently the job of Hamilton County Democrat poll worker has minimal standards: