VERNON, Ind. (AP) _ A southern Indiana judge sentenced a former state representative to 18 months after the defendant pleaded guilty to three counts of vote fraud.
 
  Jennings Circuit Judge Jon Webster ordered 61-year-old Michael Marshall of North Vernon on Wednesday to serve half of his sentence behind bars, with the remaining nine months suspended.
 
  The Republic reports Marshall and prosecutors entered into a plea agreement. Marshall, a longtime Jennings County Democratic Party worker, originally was charged in October 2011 with 20 counts of voter fraud, 12 counts of forgery and 13 counts of perjury.
 
  Marshall served one term in the Indiana General Assembly in 1983-1984.