CAMILLA, Ga. — The mayor of Camilla, Ga., along with two former election officials, has been incarcerated on felony charges linked to attempts last November to stop a local election after Venterra Pollard, an ally of the mayor, was disqualified from a city council race.
On Friday, Mayor Kelvin Owens was detained at the Mitchell County jail, two days after a grand jury charged him with a felony for election interference and a misdemeanor for conspiring to commit election fraud.
Camilla, a farming community of about 5,000 people, is about 225 miles from Savannah.
The city’s previous elections superintendent and her former deputy superintendent were also taken into custody. Rhunette Williford and Cheryl Ford faced the same charges as the mayor, in addition to misdemeanor allegations of neglecting their responsibilities as public officers.
Mayor Owens had blamed the local upheaval on racial politics, saying that Pollard, who is Black, was targeted by white residents trying to wrest power from the majority Black population. The city of Camilla is nearly three-fourths Black.
All three defendants remained in jail awaiting a hearing Monday. District Attorney Joe Mulholland, whose circuit includes Camilla, declined to comment on the indictment Friday.
