THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) - A Houston-area man began serving his prison sentence Tuesday after being convicted in a scheme in which people listed a hotel as their residence so they could vote in a local election to unseat members of a board.
Adrian Heath, of The Woodlands, was convicted of illegal voting in 2014 and sentenced to three years in prison, but he remained free while appealing, The Courier of Montgomery County reported. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in December chose not to hear the case, and Heath was taken into custody Tuesday, county jail records show.
Heath and three others were convicted of illegally voting in a 2010 race for The Woodlands Road Utility District board, according to the newspaper. The district is largely responsible for overseeing road construction.
Heath’s attorney, Jay Wright, acknowledged Tuesday that Heath gave the hotel as his place of residence on a voter registration form so that he could vote in the election. But he said Heath was within his rights.
Wherever a person chooses his residence to be, no matter how long he intends to stay there, it becomes his home and is suitable for voting purposes, Wright said. Heath’s actions followed past opinions by the state attorney general’s office, the attorney said, adding that they intend to take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We lawyers who have dealt with election questions have always known you can vote from a hotel if you want,” said Wright, arguing that soldiers, for instance, may be stationed elsewhere but continue to vote in a region where they’re not living.
Heath in 2010 was challenging the actions of the district board because it was acting in the interests of a developer, Wright said. The board had approved a bond package worth millions of dollars for road construction, saving the developer from covering the cost, he said.
Heath and others were successful in unseating three incumbents but a judge later determined the votes were invalid and the three were returned to the board, according to The Courier.
Bill Neill, chairman of the district board, said Tuesday the district puts projects out to bid and acts according to state rules and its own regulations. He denied the board at the time was a surrogate for any developer.
“We were not acting at the behest of the developer,” he said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.