Brian Heffernan, St. Louis Public Radio, November 21, 2019

Berkeley [Missouri] Mayor Theodore “Ted” Hoskins has been charged with five felony counts of election fraud.

A special prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, announced charges Thursday that allege Hoskins tampered with absentee ballots for a municipal election in April 2018.

He is accused of filling out absentee ballot applications for voters and having his campaign workers do the same. He is also accused of altering absentee ballots. Hoskins faces 25 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines if convicted.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Attorney Wesley Bell sought the special prosecutor to work in connection with an FBI investigation into Hoskins. Baker is the prosecutor in Jackson County, which includes a portion of Kansas City.

Hoskins pursued absentee votes as a strategy to help get him and his allies elected to positions on the city council in past elections, according to court documents.

Hoskins has served as the mayor of the north St. Louis County municipality for about seven and a half years. He narrowly won a second term in 2016, defeating Babatunde Deinbo by 13 votes.

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