Ald. Stone's Campaigners Sentenced To Jail Time For Attempting Voter Fraud

Two men who campaigned for Alderman Bernard Stone in 2007 have been sentenced to jail time for attempted voter fraud.

Anish Eapen, a ward superintendent hand-picked by Ald. Stone, was sentenced to 364 days in jail for attempted absentee ballot violations. Armando Ramos was sentenced to 270 days for the same offense, a misdemeanor.

According to prosecutors in the case, Eapen and Ramos would go door-to-door, cajoling voters into filling out absentee ballots for their candidate.

The Chicago Sun-Times describes their violations in greater detail:

Both would watch as voters filled out the absentee ballot applications and forms for both the 2007 February general election and the run-offs in April later that year when Stone edged out challenger Naisy Dolar.

At least one woman, Hema Panchigar, who isn't registered to vote, testified in November that Eapen filled out her ballot. She signed the ballot, as did all her relatives, but said during the drawn out bench trial, "I didn't mark anything."

The judge in the case, Marcus Salone, said in Wednesday's sentencing hearing, "The reality is that they attempted to steal democracy, and they did it in a vicious way."

But Ald. Stone was far from penitent.

He described his campaign workers as "political prisoners," called the prosecution a "witch hunt," and dismissed the charges against the two men as trivial, according to the Chicago Tribune. "They were convicted of misdemeanors -- misdemeanors that are no longer crimes," Stone reportedly said. "Not felonies, misdemeanors, like spitting on the sidewalk."

The Sun-Times reports that he even turned on the city's Inspector General, who launched the investigation.

"They are not the ones who attempted to steal democracy. The one who attempted to steal democracy was David Hoffman," Stone said.

"This is a miscarriage of justice," he concluded.