Milwaukee Man Charged With Election Fraud

MILWAUKEE - Attorney General J. B. Van Hollen and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced today that Lavelle Marcus Morris (DOB 4/6/77), a 31 year old Milwaukee man, has been charged with two counts of election fraud: voting by a disqualified person and providing false information to an election official.  Morris is charged with unlawfully registering to vote and voting on November 4, 2008, based on the fact that he was a convicted felon whose right to vote had not been restored.

 The complaint alleges that Morris was convicted of attempted first degree intentional homicide on November 30, 1996, and sentenced to sixteen years imprisonment.  Morris was released on parole in 2006 after which he acknowledged, on at least two occasions, that he was prohibited from voting until he had completed his sentence.  On election day, November 4, 2008, Morris registered to vote after certifying that he was not currently serving a felony sentence and then voted.  The complaint also alleges that Morris confirmed with investigators that he signed the acknowledgements of his disqualification to vote and that he voted on November 4, 2008.

 These charges arose out of a joint election fraud task force between the Attorney General, Milwaukee District Attorney and the Milwaukee Police Department.  The task force is a multi-jurisdictional action team that evaluates, investigates and prosecutes complaints of electoral fraud.  The Department of Justice and the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office work cooperatively with local law enforcement as needed when investigation is required.

 The task force has previously issued criminal charges against other persons involving the November 2008 election and continues to investigate election fraud complaints.

 A criminal complaint is a document accusing a person of violation of criminal law. A defendant enjoys a presumption of innocence. The prosecution must prove its allegations at trial beyond a reasonable doubt.