A Tribune Wire Service Report

HIALEAH -- A Hialeah voter says someone forged her signature on an absentee ballot in the city's Nov. 9 runoff election that returned Raul Martinez to the mayor's office.

Mercedes Rodriguez says she could not have voted because she was out of the country.

The suspect ballot was witnessed by Lula Rodriguez, a top assistant to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. Lula Rodriguez is not related to Mercedes Rodriguez.

The loser of Hialeah's hotly contested mayoral election, Nilo Juri, has sued the winner, Martinez. Juri alleges the election was tainted by absentee-ballot fraud.

Martinez is a convicted felon , found guilty by a federal jury of shaking down developers. He has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, but is out -- and was allowed to run for office -- pending an appeal.