One Final Election Controversy Results in No Ticket

The most heated Fayette County Judge election in recent memory took another controversial turn last Friday on the last day of early voting.

La Grange Police Chief David Gilbreath reported that his department received a criminal complaint against candidate Dan Mueller on May 20. The complainant alleged that Mueller broke state election law by campaigning within 100 feet of the Fayette County Elections Office during early voting.

Gilbreath said he investigated the incident and found no evidence that Mueller broke any law.

Photographs of the alleged violation were circulating online. The photographs show Mueller standing in the Elections Office parking lot next to a vehicle with his campaign signs on the doors

“A gentleman was hanging out at the Elections Office and saw a relative of (Mueller) pull up in a vehicle,” Gilbreath said.

The relative was one of Mueller’s sisters, Gilbreath said. She was driving a vehicle with a Dan Mueller campaign sign posted on the door. Gilbreath said she came to the Elections Office to bring her mother-in-law to vote.

“(Mueller) was inside voting,” Gilbreath said. “He never spoke to anyone. When (Mueller) exited the building, he went up to his sister and told her the vehicle she was driving could not be within 100 feet of the building and she needed to move immediately.”

Gilbreath said she moved the vehicle immediately.

“She said she forgot the signs were on the vehicle because they had been on there for so long,” Gilbreath said.

Gilbreath said he reviewed video evidence and spoke to staff at the Elections Office.

“There’s no crime because it doesn’t fit the statute,” Gilbreath said. “He was there voting. He didn’t talk to anyone besides his sister. He told his sister to leave immediately, and they left immediately.”

Moreau received two tickets for allegedly campaigning at election sites following the March 1 Primary Election.