Edited sentence: Hoff was endorsed by Meghan McCain and several other Republican personalities.In the end, Shay prevailed by 55 votes out of 950.Investigators found that she improperly notarized 71 absentee ballots in an election.One weekend before before the election, stories appeared highlighting allegedly racially-insensitive statements by Shay on Facebook.Shay's endorsers included Lousiana Governor Bobby Jindal.Shay's statements attracted negative commentary from Meghan McCain, Joe Scarborough, and several commentators.She was one of six Republican Party staff charged and one of three who plead guilty to improprieties involving absentee ballots.Soon after Hoff announced in February of 2009, The Politico's Ben Smith wrote about her 2004 conviction for election-related improprieties while working for the South Dakota Republican Party in 2004.The 2009 Young Republican National Federation Chairman's race was between Audra Shay and Rachel Hoff