Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
PARK CITY — Four Park City residents were charged Thursday with voting twice during Utah's primary election in June.
Patricia Neumayer, 61, Carolyn Anne Rose, 68, Bruce William Kirchenheiter, 68, and Bret Alan Reid, 66, were each charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with "false impersonation-double voting," a third-degree felony.
Each person charged is a registered Republican, according to charging documents. Each defendant is accused of requesting a Democratic ballot from the Summit County Clerk's Office after being sent their Republican primary ballot.
Each person was warned by the county clerk's office "that the request for a new ballot will render the old one null and that it is not legal to vote two times," the charges state. However, each person charged still submitted two ballots, according to prosecutors.
"Public confidence in our elections is very important," Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said in a statement Thursday. "If individuals vote twice we will find out about it and we will prosecute it. These are strict liability crimes."
"Our systems have multiple security measures to prevent anyone from having multiple votes counted," added Summit County Clerk Evelyn Furse. "If someone tells you something about voting that doesn't seem quite right, please reach out to our office or the lieutenant governor's office to verify. Please be aware that there is a lot of misinformation out there."
Rose told investigators even though she was warned by the clerk's office about submitting a second ballot, "she thought that what the person from the county clerk's office said 'wasn't right,' and she submitted the second ballot," anyway, the charges allege.
Kirchenheiter told investigators, "No one at the county clerk's office told him he could not vote twice. Moreover, he asserted that the website did not warn him against voting two times. Accordingly, (he) thought it was not against the law to cast a second, Democratic Party ballot, so he submitted the second one," the charges state.
Olson says she hopes public prosecution of these cases "will deter others who are thinking about violating the Election Code."
When asked for comment by KSL.com, Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said, "Sounds like the system works, glad the county attorney and county clerk are doing their jobs."
Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko
