This story was originally published in the Alaska Beacon.
This week marks the beginning of a long-awaited trial for former Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, who is accused of voter misconduct and unlawful interference with voting in the 2018 primary and general elections for State House.
The trial, scheduled for Thursday, comes more than four years after LeDoux and two associates were first accused of violating state laws during her campaigns, and has been delayed at least three times.
Originally, LeDoux was also charged with violations relating to 2014 elections. However, in 2021, a state judge dismissed those charges, saying that the state waited too long to allege crimes related to 2014.
Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby heard oral arguments for the case at the Nesbett Courthouse in Anchorage on Tuesday. The arguments focused on texts retrieved by the FBI from a phone belonging to LeDoux.
State prosecutor Jenna Gruenstein said LeDoux’s texts from 2014 show that LeDoux knowingly and willingly advised people to vote in the wrong district. LeDoux ran for state representative of House District 15 that year. Gruenstein described the texts as “incredibly relevant” because of their similarity to LeDoux’s alleged conduct in 2018.
Gruenstein called on Bonnie Bailey, who described herself as a lifelong family friend of LeDoux, to answer questions about her text exchanges from 2014 with LeDoux. Bailey had moved to LeDoux’s district in 2009. In 2014, while separating from her husband, Bailey moved into temporary housing outside of LeDoux’s district, she told Gruenstein.
In texts received from LeDoux’s phone in 2014, Bailey told LeDoux that she was living in midtown. “But I think I can still vote east side,” she texted on October 21 of that year, according to charging documents from 2020.
LeDoux texted back: “You should still vote here. You and josh are still registered here, u can change your registration after the election.”
On Tuesday, Bailey told Gruenstein it “wasn’t clear” back then whether she would permanently reside outside of Eastern Anchorage.
“If I was going to permanently move out of the east side, of course I could change my voter registration,” she said.
Judge Saxby scheduled a status hearing for Wednesday, which will determine whether the trial will proceed as scheduled on Thursday.
This story is republished from the Alaska Beacon under Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com. Follow Alaska Beacon on Facebook and Twitter.
