County commission chair Albert Turner Jr. indicted on voter fraud charge
The son of Alabama civil rights activists has been indicted on charges of voter fraud, but he called the accusations nothing more than “political theatre.” Perry County Commission Chairman Albert Turner Jr. has been charged with voting more than once and violating Alabama’s law that prohibits the fraudulent collection and filling of other people’s absentee ballots. The charges were announced Wednesday by Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and District Attorney Michael Jackson. Jackson said Turner is accused of running multiple ballots through a voting machine during the May 2022 Democratic primary election. He is also accused of breaking state law as regards using absentee ballots, Jackson said. Turner was seen with a “stack” of absentee ballot material at the post office, he said. “He was stuffing the machine with the ballots that he had already filled out for the folks he was supporting. He did that for a good little while, and he had some folks distracting the poll watchers,” Jackson said. Turner told the Associated Press that he did know about the charges, but that he did nothing wrong. “I am not concerned about any charge he has announced, and I will not waste any energy on political theatre. It is mighty funny that Little Mike waited until he was leaving office to make his charge because he knows he can’t prove his case,” Turner wrote in a text message. Turner’s cousin, Robert H. Turner Jr., defeated Jackson, in the Democratic primary. He takes office later this month. Jackson said the case is being handled by the attorney general’s office to avoid a conflict. Turner is the son of civil rights activists Albert Turner Sr. and Evelyn H. Turner. Albert Turner Sr. was Alabama field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1965 when he helped lead the aborted Selma-to-Montgomery march that became known as “Bloody Sunday” when marchers were beaten by state troopers. He led the mule wagon that carried the body of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at his funeral. The elder Turner died in 2000. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
Dick Durbin questions Jeff Sessions alleged ‘racial insensitivity’
Jeff Sessions and his history on race are causing uncertainty among fellow lawmakers in the days before the Alabama Senator’s confirmation hearing scheduled for next week. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, told POLITICO there are “elements” of Sessions’ background that “raise questions” about supposed racial insensitivities — suggesting Sessions’ past comments on race will play a significant role in his confirmation hearings. Durbin stopped short of calling Sessions racist outright, though. “I would say there certainly are elements in his background that raise questions,” Durbin said. “He said several times, point-blank, that this was not an issue as far as he was concerned. He believed that everybody deserved fair treatment.” Sessions’ supporters, however, are quick to push back on accusations of racial insensitivity, enlisting prominent black leaders to vouch for the Alabama senator’s character. They point to his career as a federal prosecutor, where Sessions has gone after Ku Klux Klan members. This week, Perry County Commissioner Albert Turner Jr. endorsed Sessions, who had prosecuted Turner’s parents for voter fraud in a case that led to the allegations that torpedoed his confirmation to the federal judiciary in 1986. “My differences in policy and ideology with him do not translate to personal malice,” Turner said in a statement. “He is not a racist. As I have said before, at no time then or now has Jeff Sessions said anything derogatory about my family. He was a prosecutor at the federal level with a job to do.” Durbin would not say whether he would oppose Sessions as Donald Trump’s attorney general, but did outline several differences they have had on issues such as immigration and criminal justice reform. “There were no breakthroughs in terms of his positions by Sen. Sessions,” Durbin said. “He and I are pretty familiar with one another’s positions.”
