MSNBC host Al Sharpton attended a "voting rights" rally in Ohio last week where he hugged a former Ohio poll worker who has been convicted of voter fraud, earning scorn from both Republicans and Democrats.
Melowese Richardson, whom Sharpton embraced at Thursday’s rally in support of a "voters’ bill of rights," has also been convicted of threatening to kill a witness, assault, theft, and drunk driving, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Richardson, a Democrat, was convicted of voter fraud after using her position as poll worker to vote more than once in the 2012 presidential election. She got a five year prison term, but was released earlier this month after local Democratic activists pressed for a fairer term. [...]
Richardson was among the more than 400 at Word of Deliverance Church in Forest Park when Cincinnati National Action Network President Bobby Hilton called her on stage for a "welcome home."
The Enquirer reported that Richardson’s appearance "sparked outrage from Republicans," but even Democratic lawmakers spoke out.
"I am very glad the county prosecutor and judge reconsidered and got her out of jail, but she is not a hero," Hamilton County Democratic Party chairman Tim Burke, who was at the rally, told the Enquirer. "What she did was criminal conduct and was particularly problematic because of her role as a poll worker."