Quote:A Democratic state representative from Arkansas' Delta pleaded guilty Wednesday, along with his father and two city officials, to federal charges of conspiracy to commit voter fraud.

The four men who admitted manipulating absentee voter ballots and votes are Rep. Hudson Hallum, D-Marion, Kent Hallum, West Memphis City Councilman Phillip Wayne Carter and West Memphis Police Officer Sam Malone, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Little Rock.

Quote:The District 54 seat was vacated in January 2011 after Fred Smith, D-Crawfordsville, was convicted of theft. Hallum then won the seat in a special election by defeating Kim Felker by 8 votes in a runoff held May 10, 2011. News reports at the time said Felker had reported suspicious absentee voting to the prosecuting attorney. In an unannounced hearing, the men waived their right to be indicted by a grand jury and pleaded guilty to a single charge. The information — the term used to refer to charged filed directly by federal prosecutors rather than by a grand jury — described multiple acts, including buying meals in exchange for absentee votes.

According to the release, each of the men acknowledged participating in "a conspiracy to bribe voters to influence absentee votes in the Arkansas District 54 primary, its runoff election, and the general election," held between February and July 2011.