Federal judge: Vote twice? Stay home for a month
In case you missed it in the ink edition this morning, Post-Dispatch federal court beat reporter Robert Patrick has the story of a St. Louis man who voted twice — and has been grounded by the court.
Joel L. Neal, 55, was living with and caring for his ailing and elderly mother when she died on Oct. 29, 2007.
Patrick writes that Neal’s lawyer said his client’s mother was a “religious voter,” and that Neal had often gone to the polls and “shared that joy of voting.”
Neal, the lawyer suggested, knew how his mother planned to vote and was simply carrying out her wishes when he sent an absentee ballot on her behalf for the February presidential primary.
Neal also voted for himself.
And he might have gotten away with it, too, had Neal not sent his mother’s ballot in just as the Elections Board was purging their voter rolls.
Instead, Judge E. Richard Webber sentenced Neal to a month home confinement.
The good news for Neal: He’ll be out by the November election. The bad news: Individuals convicted of an election offense in Missouri lose their right to vote.
(2 votes, average: 1 out of 5)
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We need to do something about absentee ballot voting. It is wide open for misuse.
The politicians haven’t figured it out. Maybe it’s time for the people to get together and come up with a plan.