The now ongoing FBI’s investigation of the Shelby County Election Administrator’s office, first reported as imminent by the Flyer in December, is moving — in the often-used bureaucratic phrase — “with all deliberate speed.” So far one employee of the Election Administrator’s office has been interviewed by the FBI, but five more designated on the Bureau’s ask list have not been, nor has the Administrator himself, Richard Holden. Earlier reports had suggested that Holden would be interviewed this week, but Robert Meyers, chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission, said he had been informed that Holden’s interview had been rescheduled for some time in early February. Meyers confirmed that, besides Holden himself, the FBI had designated six employees for interviews — “two in voter registration, three in the election officials department, and one trainer.” The chairman — one of three Republicans on the five-member Commission, which also includes two Democrats — declined, on grounds of “fairness,” to identify the names of the six employees involved, or to indicate the category of the employee already interviewed.
He said, however, that both the list of persons to be interviewed and what he knew of the FBI’s normal interests in election processes would suggest that the purpose of the Bureau’s investigation was to look into possible denials of individuals’ voting rights.
Meyers said he didn’t know whether the impetus for the investigation had come from specific voters or from other persons who have raised questions about the local election process. Numerous election glitches have occurred in recent years, though both Holden and Meyers have insisted that none of importance had occurred in 2013, which saw a series of elections held in Shelby County.
Full Article: Pressure Mounts on Election Officials as Local Probe by FBI Begins | Politics Beat Blog | Memphis News and Events | Memphis Flyer.