The Selma Times-Journal

MARION &8212; Cynthia Davis said her experience as a voter was ruined right from the start.

Davis, 21, talked about her first time voting as an 18-year-old in high school in Marion. She claims a woman assisting her took her ballot from her, marked a candidate she did not choose and never gave her any choice in the matter.

Her case is one of many the Democracy Defense League and Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman vow to fight.

Chapman reiterated that point during Thursday night&8217;s voter fraud rally in the Marion Military Institute Chapel.

Her message was more about education than

activism.

Chapman&8217;s speech put into perspective the laws people often go unaware of or ignore during the voting process.

The Hale County-based Democracy Defense League staged the event, and Chapman encouraged the few hundred people in attendance to do their part to clean up the voting process.

Crusaders against illegal voting practices put phony absentee ballots and voter intimidation high among their list of targets.

State Attorney general Troy King began investigations into voter fraud cases in several counties shortly after the June 3 primary elections.

That includes Perry County where Marion is located.

One of the elected officials in question, county commissioner Albert Turner Jr., defended allegations lodged against him.

Turner was the candidate Davis said she was forced to choose in the 2005 election for a vacant Alabama House seat.

In her speech, Chapman spoke of the importance of educating ourselves about what we can and cannot do once we get to the polling places.

Still, it&8217;s apparent some people don&8217;t get the message.