TEXARKANA — Arkansas State Police are investigating an apparently forged memorandum purported to be from Miller County Judge Roy John McNatt asking for help in "getting rid of blacks" in the county's road department, a prosecutor says.

Miller County Prosecutor Brent Haltom said the memo appears to be a forgery and will be investigated by federal authorities as well, as it could be construed as voter fraud. McNatt said he did not write the memo on his stationery, with a subject line of "Black Employees," calling it "bogus" and an "unadulterated lie."

"The letter is a complete lie. I've seen the letter someone else turned over to the prosecutor and you can see lines on the copy where it looks like it was pasted together," McNatt told the Texarkana Gazette. "The letterhead is mine and the signature is mine. Everything else is completely bogus. I heard of this kind of stuff going on 20 or 30 years ago to slander people to get votes."

The purported memo, dated March 30, 2005, reads: "I need your help in getting rid of Blacks in the Road Dept. All I need Blacks for is votes, nothing else pass that. This letter is confidential between you and I, once read please destroy."

The memo was addressed to Road Foreman J.W. Crabtree. Crabtree said he never received such a memo in 2005.

McNatt is the incumbent county judge, the top elected official in Miller County. He is being challenged by Jerry Sewell in the May 20 Democratic primary.

Sewell declined to comment about the memo.