VIDALIA, La. &045; A court hearing for seven people indicted in a vote-tampering case in Ferriday originally scheduled for today has been postponed until Aug. 17, officials at the Concordia Parish District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

The hearing was postponed because one of the attorneys for the AG’s office had a conflict.

The case, which is being prosecuted by the Louisiana Attorney General’s office, centers on allegations that Justin L. Conner, Willie Robinson, James Skipper, Emerson Slain, Henrietta Williams, Eloise Polk and Shirley R. Mason conspired to illegally submit absentee ballots for people who had not requested them, court documents state. The ballots were for the March 2004 Ferriday mayor’s election, in which Mayor Gene Allen beat out incumbent Glen McGlothin by 71 votes.

Slain said a press conference he had scheduled for today would be postponed.

if the hearing did not take place.