VOTES SOLD FOR DRUGS

Official Says 110 Complaints Filed Statewide

In what an Eastern Kentucky prosecutor said may be a sign of the times,
Knott County officials received Election Day reports that votes were bought
for not just cash, but drugs.

"What it takes to get the attention of some voters now is no longer a case
of beer or $10 or $15," said Lori Daniel, an assistant commonwealth's
attorney in Knott and Magoffin counties. "Now it's a handful of OxyContin."

OxyContin is a potent painkiller that addicts often abuse by crushing it to
eliminate its time-release effect. The drug has been a particularly popular
item in Eastern Kentucky's illegal narcotics trade.

Meanwhile, in Clay County, a state legislator said she was approached
several times by people asking for money to buy votes and haul voters for
her campaign.

Barbara White Colter, who lost her 90th District seat in Tuesday's
election, said she declined the deals, one of which was allegedly presented
to her in a phone call during the legislature's special session last month.

Statewide, the state attorney general's office received 110 complaints of
vote fraud via a toll-free number on Tuesday, said Barbara Hadley Smith, a
spokeswoman for the agency. During the weeks before the election, Smith
said, the attorney general got 175 complaints.

"Right now we're gathering all of the information," she said, adding that
20 inspection teams were sent to counties throughout the state on Tuesday.

Knott County

In Knott County, Daniel, the prosecutor, said yesterday that her office
received eight or nine reports that votes were exchanged for drugs or cash
Tuesday.

She declined to release specifics related to the allegations -- but if
they're true, they represent a twist on Eastern Kentucky's long tradition
of vote-buying.

"For 150 years, we worried about cash and liquor, which is why we close
liquor stores on Election Day," Daniel said.

Some reports were made directly to Daniel's office, she said, while others
were referred by the attorney general's office.

Smith, the attorney general's spokeswoman, confirmed yesterday that her
agency had referred complaints to Daniel's office. She declined to elaborate.

Kentucky State Police have been asked to investigate some incidents, Daniel
said. A decision on whether to impanel a special grand jury will depend on
the police investigation, she said.

Clay County

In Clay County, Colter said that, for an amount of money that she wouldn't
specify, politicians could be included on a "ticket" of candidates who
received bought votes. Colter wouldn't identify even the sex of the people
who made the proposals.

"It's very dangerous what we're talking about ... and I've got children,"
she said. "Everybody was afraid. They had thugs running their campaigns."

Clay County's sheriff closed the polls twice this month when absentee
voters lined up in large numbers. And on May 19, four people involved with
the county clerk's race were involved in shooting incidents.

The attorney general's office is currently investigating "voting
irregularities" in Clay, which makes up much of Colter's 90th District, but
she said she doesn't plan to report what happened to her. "There's not a
thing anybody can do," Colter said. "You couldn't get anyone to admit to
handling the money."

Vote buying is a Class D felony under Kentucky law, punishable by one to
five years in prison. However, Smith declined to comment on the legality of
an offer to buy votes like the one Colter said she received.

"It's something investigators would have to look at," Smith said. "It
sounds like it's getting a bit sticky."

Although they could offer no proof, Clay County officials have for the past
few weeks said that vote-buying is a part of the local political landscape.

One of Colter's rivals on Tuesday, Jerry Wagers, said it's hardly a secret.

"It kind of goes without being said, you know it happens," said Wagers, who
also lost his bid for the seat.

The winner of the 90th District, Tim Couch, could not be reached for
comment yesterday.

Lee Sizemore, who ran for judge executive in Clay, said the number of
people who sold their votes this year was higher than in elections past.

Some hotly contested races drove up the intensity, Sizemore said. The
result, he suggested, was simple supply-and-demand economics.

"They were paying more," Sizemore said.