That is one of many "illegal votes" that were cast in the race, tainting the election results and offering fresh reason to overturn Darrell Clarke's victory, Welker alleges.
Under state law, "any person who votes or attempts to vote at any primary or election, knowing that he does not possess all the qualifications of an elector . . . shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."
Fred Voigt, head of the Committee of Seventy, an election watchdog group, said yesterday that one of those qualifications was that voters are registered where they live.
However, he said, judges have proved accommodating in letting people vote where they want.
"Judges have interpreted that very liberally, meaning if you could possibly live there and declare that that's where you want to vote, then that's where you can vote," Voigt said.
McDowell did not return a phone call yesterday seeking comment.
At a news conference yesterday, Welker's supporters said they were subpoenaing McDowell for records showing where she has lived in the last 10 years. Welker attorney Bruce Marks said he also was subpoenaing the housing authority, which last week appointed McDowell, a lifelong public housing tenant, to one of its top jobs - general manager overseeing the authority's 6,400 rowhouses, at a salary of $87,000.
Marks is seeking any letters of recommendation, interview notes, or other PHA material in an attempt to show that McDowell got the job "because of her political influence and her willingness to support Clarke and [John] Street."
Street, the Democratic front-runner in the general election campaign for mayor, is a former vice chairman of the PHA's governing board. McDowell's resume shows she once worked for him as a political consultant. Clarke, in turn, was chief aide to Street when Street held the Fifth District Council seat.
