FBI Issues Subpoenas Related to Crittenden County Elections

Multiple sources have confirmed to The Tolbert Report today (Feb. 4) that FBI agents have delivered subpoenas to election officials in Crittenden County to appear before a grand jury in Little Rock on Tuesday.

You may recall that an investigation was started in the special election to fill the vacant seat for House District 54 seat after former Rep. Fred Smith resigned after being convicted of theft.  Rep. Hudson Hallum won the special election after a Democratic primary, runoff, and three-way general election race.

Last July, Hallum’s opponent in the primary runoff, Kim Felker, asked Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington to investigate irregularities in the election, primarily considering absentee ballots.  Felker had a recorded message from a man named Leroy Grant calling to say he could help her obtain absentee votes.  She turned him down, but Hallum did not and retained him to work for his campaign.  Felker lost to Hallum by 8 votes with Hallum greatly outnumbering her in absentee votes, 401 to 69.

I spoke with Ellington who said that he turned over the investigation to special prosecutor H.G Foster, but he was not sure of the status of that investigation.

However, the subpoenas that were issued to Crittenden County election officials this week were delivered by FBI agents, which would indicate this is not a state investigation, but a federal one.  The U.S. district attorney’s office is closed for the weekend, but they usually will not comment on ongoing investigations.

The local blog Crittenden County Arkansas also has received reports on the subpoenas and has some additional information.