Organizer regrets including felon in voter rally

• Many in the audience of more than 600 stood and cheered as the Rev. Al Sharpton hugged the poll worker convicted of voter fraud.
• The event drew bipartisan criticism, and now the man who called the poll worker to the stage said he erred.

The president of a local civil rights group said he "regrets" calling a convicted voting felon to the stage during the Cincinnati launch of the Ohio Voters Bills of Rights petition drive.

Bishop Bobby Hilton called Melowese Richardson, who recently was released from prison after being convicted of voter fraud, to the stage on March 20, drawing criticism from both parties.

Many in the audience of more than 600 stood and cheered as Hilton and the Rev. Al Sharpton – the keynote speaker – hugged Richardson.

Hilton, senior pastor of the Forest Park church where the rally was held and the head of the Cincinnati chapter of the National Action Network, released a statement to The Enquirer Thursday, saying what Richardson did was wrong and she is not a "voting right hero."

Hilton, senior pastor at The Word Family Life Center, said he was motivated by compassion.

"I now realize I should have done this at a regular church service, not at the Cincinnati (Ohio Voter Bill of Rights) launch," Hilton said. "I regret that my action distracted from the high and historic purpose of the (Ohio Voter Bill of Rights) – to preserve and protect the fundamental right of Ohioans to vote and to have their lawful votes counted."

Hilton was also careful to point out that State Representative Alicia Reece, nor anyone else connected with what he called a "grassroots community event," had prior knowledge he was going to introduce Richardson.

Although State Senator Nina Turner, a Democrat running for Ohio Secretary of State, arrived late and was not in the room when Hilton recognized Richardson, the Ohio Republican Party seized the moment to criticize her.

Four days after the event, Ohio GOP spokesman Chris Schrimpf sent out a release saying, "We are seeing what kind of secretary of state Nina Turner would be. She would sit silently and celebrate voting fraud that benefits the Democratic Party, even as local leaders condemn it. She has displayed seriously poor judgment by not speaking out against voting fraud."

Even Democrats chided Hilton. Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke, who was at the rally, said, "I am very glad the county prosecutor and judge reconsidered and got her out of jail, but she is not a hero. What she did was criminal conduct and was particularly problematic because of her role as a poll worker."

Richardson, 58, of Madisonville, was convicted last spring on four counts of illegal voting and sentenced to five years in prison. The charges say she twice voted in the 2012 election and voted three times in past elections on behalf of her sister, who has been in a coma since 2003.

During an appeal of the conviction, Richardson's new lawyer, David Singleton, presented Richardson's mental health history, which Richardson originally didn't share with the judge. The information prompted prosecutors to agree Richardson shouldn't be kept behind bars.

Singleton is a law professor at Northern Kentucky University's Chase College of Law and head of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest law firm in Cincinnati.

Hilton ended his statement by saying: "Lifting up voting rights and enshrining them forever in our state constitution is far too important to be sidetracked by one man's actions."