Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the arrest of Terry Andrew Heflin, a Democrat running for District 5 of the Clay County Commission, on 7 felony counts of voter fraud Wednesday.

Heflin, 45, a resident of Clay County, was charged with 7 counts of unlawful use of absentee ballots, according to AG Marshall’s office. Specifically, the indictment alleges that Heflin falsified applications to vote absentee for multiple people and then used those people’s names to vote for himself by absentee ballot. Each count of unlawful use of an absentee ballot is a Class C felony punishable by 1 year and 1 day to 10 years in prison.

Heflin turned himself in to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, and is currently being held at the Clay County jail. The case is being prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Division.

After the announcement of Heflin’s arrest, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nathaniel Ledbetter reflected that legislation passed earlier this year by the Alabama Legislature cracking down on ballot harvesting was a necessary and effective decision.

“I’m proud of the Legislature’s efforts to safeguard the integrity of Alabama’s elections,” Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) said. “We have a very important election coming up in November, and I have full confidence that it will be safe and secure in the great state of Alabama.”

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.