SL Co. Man Votes Twice, Poll Workers Don't Stop Him

None by KCPW

Felony Charges Possible if Voter History Report Finds Him

(KCPW News 11/07/06) After seeing Stealing America Vote by Vote - a documentary film about election fraud in the 2004 presidential election - a Salt Lake County man says he wondered whether the new electronic voting machines being used today would allow him to vote twice. He voted early on Friday, then says he went to his precinct today to test his theory:

"I expected it to, you know, maybe a screen to come up and say, ‘you voted twice,' that's what I expected. But there was nothing that happened."

KCPW has agreed to keep the man's name confidential because voting twice is a felony. While he views his act as a test of the new system, if not one of civil disobedience, Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen is not impressed:

"The bottom line is we go back and do a history report, and, if he did this intentionally, it's prosecutable."

Swensen says the electronic voting machines don't have any ability to recognize people; that's a poll worker's job - just like it was under the old punch card system of voting. Precinct registers are printed weeks before the general election. Early voting, which was allowed through Monday, means that updates had to be printed and transported to the county's 373 polling places by 7 a.m. this morning. Although the Salt Lake County man says he told no less than four poll workers exactly what he was doing when he voted twice, none stopped him.

1. William Nicholls said:

Swensen's comment is ridiculous. The man found a huge hole in the electronic system. If the machine's records can trace down this fellow's duplicate vote, then the system should be able to catch and prevent duplicate votes real-time. And if the system can't recognize a multiple vote using a single card, it is terribly flawed.

2. Barbara Bellows-TerraNova said:

I believe the point is that the jig is up. Voters are recognizing how absurdly wrong the slick trick of HAVA is, as written by felon Bob Ney under the influence of Diebold through Jack Abramoff, to the tune of $275,000.00 -- how cruel is the disenfranchisement of voters by those who prefer power over democracy.

But Sherrie Swensen is in a tough position. She, like other elections workers, is under the gun. After all, those who've paid attention know how punitive Diebold is -- ask Steve Heller in California or our own Bruce Funk in Emery County.

And citizens find that when the law doesn't stand up for the truth, they must think outside the box.

I thank the voter and I thank KCPW for telling us.

3. Jason Yocom said:

It's funny that people think voting machines can identify voters. Just like the old punch card system, once a voter casts his ballot, it's secret and no one can match that ballot to the voter. The process to check voters in at the polling location hasn't changed with the new equipment. In that process the voter is identified to the poll workers and if they voted early or absentee and then try to vote again on election day, they are breaking the law and subject all criminal penalties that apply. The method of capturing votes has changed, not processing voters. When the clerk's office does their reconciliation during the canvassing period, this person will be identified as voting twice and all evidence of this crime will be forwarded to law enforcement to investigate and prosecute.

4. Daniel Newby said:

Swenson should be prosecuted for gross malfeasance of office. She has impeded every citizen effort to restore integrity to an election process that would make Saddam Hussein proud. See http://www.accountabilityutah.org/IssuesAlerts/LegAlerts/2003/FraudAlert060803.htm for more information on Utah's insecure, unverifiable election process.