VIDALIA, La. &045; An assistant to the mayor of Ferriday, a Ferriday police officer and a former Recreation Board member are among seven men and women named in voter fraud arrest warrants handed down by a Concordia Parish court Tuesday.

According to warrants of arrest from the Clerk of Court’s office, the 19 voting related offenses happened between March 3, 2004 and April 17, 2004 &045; right around the dates of the Ferriday mayoral election.

On March 9, 2004, mayoral challenger Gene Allen moved into a runoff with incumbent Glen McGlothin. On April 17, 2004, Allen won the mayoral race by 71 votes.

The warrants signed by Seventh Judicial District Court Judge Leo Boothe and dated around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, were issued for Justin L. Conner, Willie Robinson, James Skipper, Emerson Slain, Henrietta Williams, Eloise Polk and Shirley R. Mason.

Conner, charged with seven counts of criminal conspiracy, filing or maintaining false public records and principal to forgery, is currently employed as an administrative assistant by Mayor Gene Allen. Conner was one of six candidates in last year’s Ferriday mayoral race. When he failed to advance to the runoff he announced his endorsement of Allen on March 16, 2004.

According to the warrant, Conner allegedly committed his crimes between March 29 and April 17, 2004.

Charges say he conspired with other people to make and have filed a false ballot envelope affidavit of Frederick White, Estella White and Lillie M. White, none of who authorized the act and made and had filed a false request for an absentee ballot by mail for the same three people.

Allen would not comment Tuesday afternoon, saying he knew very little about the arrests.

Ferriday Police Officer Willie Robinson, 110 Loomis Road, Clayton, faces three counts of criminal conspiracy, filing or maintaining false public records and principal to forgery.

James Skipper, a former member of the Recreation Board No. 1, faces two counts of the same charges. Skipper ran for Ferriday council and Policy Jury in 2000. At that time, judges ruled that Skipper could not hold public office because of a 1988 conviction on cocaine charges. Later in 2000, Skipper was charged with four counts of unlawful practice of law.

Williams, 713 10th St., Ferriday, faces four counts on the same charges as Conner, Robison and Skipper. Polk, 316 Martin Luther King St., Ferriday, and Mason, 113 Gremillion St., Ferriday, face one charge each for criminal conspiracy and filing or maintaining false public records.

Slain, a former Ferriday Police employee, faces three counts of filing or maintaining false public records.

McGlothin could not be reached Tuesday night, but after last year’s election he expressed concern with some voting practices and said he knew a convicted felon voted. He did not contest the election.

The warrants were the result of a parish grand jury which convened Monday. The cases were not handled by the District Attorney’s office, which said the Attorney General was handling the matter.

First Assistant to the Secretary of State Al Ater said Tuesday it is routine for the local DA’s office to ask the attorney general to come in.

Though the Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t handle presentation of facts to the grand jury, Ater said it is involved in voter fraud investigations.

&uot;We have an elections compliance unit,&uot; he said. &uot;Their charge is to go around and make sure all the election laws are being followed.&uot;

The unit includes three former state troopers and a retired deputy sheriff.

&uot;They go out much like a sheriff’s investigator and report on every single complaint,&uot; he said. &uot;A great majority prove to be fruitless. The ones that they feel have merit are turned over to the appropriate authorities.&uot;

Ater would not comment on whether the elections unit had been investigating in Ferriday.

As of 9 p.m. Tuesday Conner, Robinson, Skipper, Slain, Williams and Polk had been arrested.

Williams and Polk were released by the judge for medical reasons. Skipper was transferred to the Concordia Parish Correctional Facility with a bond of $60,000.

Robinson’s bond is $90,000, Conner’s is $210,000 and Slain’s is $30,000. All three were still in jail.