A former Alabama lawmaker on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a voter fraud charge that he rented a closet-sized space in a home to fraudulently run for office in a district where he did not live.
Former state Rep. David Cole, a Republican from Huntsville, pleaded to a charge of voting in an authorized location. A judge sentenced Cole to serve 60 days at the Madison County Jail. The remainder of a three-year sentence was suspended and Cole will be placed on probation for that time, according to the terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Cole, who was elected in 2022, signed a lease in 2021 to pay $5 per month for a 5 by 5 foot space in a home in order to run for office in House District 10, according to a plea agreement. Alabama law requires candidates to live in a legislative district for one year before they run for office. Cole signed the lease for the space two days after a redistricting plan was enacted that placed the home where Cole had lived since 2014 in another House district. Cole provided an altered version of the lease - which specified he was renting a house and not a smaller space - when media questions arose about his residency, prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement.
The guilty plea comes after accusations surfaced that he did not live in the district in which he was elected.
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Former Alabama lawmaker pleads guilty to voter fraud charge for using fake address to run for officeA former Alabama lawmaker has pleaded guilty to a voter fraud charge that he rented a closet-sized space in a home to fraudulently run for office in a district where he did not live. Former state Rep. David Cole pleaded Tuesday to a charge of voting in an authorized location. A judge sentenced the Republican from Huntsville to 60 days in jail. The remainder of his three-year sentence suspended under a plea agreement reached with prosecutors. Prosecutors said Cole signed a lease in 2021 and paid
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