LISBON – An East Liverpool woman charged with several counts of voter registration fraud and a Wellsville woman accused of stealing from the local Elks organization were among those who appeared for arraignments before Judge C. Ashley Pike in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court on Thursday.

Rebecca C. Hammonds, 33, Fourth Street, East Liverpool, pleaded not guilty to 32 counts of making a false registration and three counts of election falsification. She requested and was granted a public defender, with defense attorney Jennifer Gorby being appointed.

She was accused after the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCII) followed up on concerns raised by employees of the Columbiana County elections board in September. When completing normal checks on new registration cards, the elections board found the names of at least five dead people recently registered and other cards were also flagged as problematic.

At the time of the alleged crimes, Hammonds had been a paid canvasser for the liberal group, Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC), which was in the process of conducting voter registration drives in the southern part of the county. Three of the charges were for allegedly signing the names on three of the forms herself.

The charges are all fifth-degree felonies, which each carry a maximum one-year sentence, but the counts could be run consecutively for a possible maximum sentence of 35 years.

Also appearing for arraignment was Karrena L. Harty, 50, Main Street, Wellsville, charged with theft for allegedly helping herself to $27,000 in funds from the Wellsville Elks Lodge 1040 over a four-year period starting in December 2011. Harty had been a former employee of the club. The case was also investigated by the BCII.

Harty pleaded not guilty, also requested a public defender and was granted the appointment of defense attorney Colleen Hall-Dailey.

Both woman are currently released on bond.