Seven arrested and charged with voting fraud in Mississippi town known for election skulduggery

Reporting from Canton, Miss. —  In a town that calls itself the Hollywood of Mississippi, people say for years they’ve been hearing tales of dirty politics worthy of a movie script, like campaigns buying votes with cash or beer.

But it wasn’t until the last few days when the former police chief, a former fire chief and others were arrested on voter fraud charges that locals realized the extent of the problems.

“It’s always been kind of fishy business dealing with elections in Canton, Miss.,” said 21-year-old resident Laselven Harris, an African American who worked in the 2017 city campaign for a white Republican who lost the race for mayor.

Six people were arrested Thursday and one was arrested Friday after a grand jury indicted them on a variety of election fraud charges. They face accusations of bribing voters, improperly helping people fill out absentee ballots, voting despite being convicted of disqualifying felonies and voting even though they lived outside the city or voting district.

The indictments come at a time that a disputed North Carolina congressional race is bringing attention to alleged election misdeeds nationwide.

Among those arrested was Vickie McNeil, a former Canton police chief who now serves on the Board of Aldermen. She faces four counts of voter fraud. She is alleged to have illegally helped people cast absentee ballots when she was running for reelection. McNeil, who declined comment to reporters, was released on $4,000 bail.

A former Canton fire chief, Cary Johnson, was arrested Friday. He is accused of trying to influence a voter by promising beer and offering money to two others to sway their votes.

The heaviest charges are against Courtney Rainey, who is appointed to the city school board and is Canton’s director of human and cultural needs. Rainey, 38, was indicted on 10 counts of voter fraud, two counts of conspiring to commit voter fraud, two counts of voting by an unqualified person and one count of intimidating a witness.

The indictments allege Rainey paid four people for their votes in cash and one with a Walmart gift card. A lawyer for Rainey didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and email seeking comment. Rainey is free on $15,000 bail.

Canton has a population of less than 13,000. About 70% of the city’s residents are black and 24% are white. The mayor and six of the seven aldermen elected in 2017 are black; the other alderman is white.

Canton latched onto the Hollywood nickname because parts of “A Time to Kill” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” were filmed there. The white-columned Madison County Courthouse sits at the center of its town square. For a month leading into Christmas, some 200,000 lights are strung overhead and on trees around the courthouse, and plate-glass windows around the square are decorated with reindeer, toys and images of Santa Claus.

Harris, who works for a supplier at the Nissan automotive manufacturing plant just south of Canton, had lunch on his day off Friday at a sports bar on the town square. Sipping a glass of sweet ice tea as a television blared a sports talk program, Harris said he had heard talk of absentee ballot fraud in city elections.

“You shouldn’t cheat,” Harris said firmly.