Barking Mad Woman Registers Dog to Vote

July 1, 2007 — -- It only took three elections for King County officials in Washington state to recognize that registered independent voter, Duncan M. Macdonald, is a dog.

Seattle resident Jane Balogh says she registered her Australian shepherd-terrier mix to prove that the identification requirements for voter registration make it easy to engage in voter fraud.

Washington state requires that voters present just one item from a list of easy-to-obtain documents, such as a pay stub or government check, to prove identity. Prospective voters are not required to present passports, photo ID, or even a social security number.

Balogh cheated the system by putting her telephone under her dog's name, and then using that bill to prove identity and register him to vote.

"When doing research, I noticed that all you needed to register [to vote] was a utility bill ... and that's what I was protesting," she told ABCNews.

Balogh used her pup's paw print as the signature for each of the three ballots she filed. Bobby Eagon, a representative for King County elections, claims Balogh not only stamped each envelope with a paw print, but also wrote out Duncan M. Macdonald's signature.

An election official contacted Balogh after submitting the second ballot, in the November 2006 election, to notify her that the paw print was an invalid signature.

"It is not within state election offices purview to second-guess the signatures confirming the identity on each ballot. We are required to accept the signature on the envelope of each absentee ballot at face value," said Eagon.

Balogh said after being contacted the first time, she immediately told county officials that the ballot was registered to her dog, and that one official told her she would be contacted by a supervisor. She says she never was until two weeks ago, when she was charged with voter fraud, a felony.

King County authorities quickly offered Balogh a plea deal — a misdemeanor charge of making false statements to a county official. But when she was arraigned in court this past Tuesday, she pleaded innocent.

If she loses her case, Balogh may be sentenced with up to five years in prison, a fine of $10,000, and the possibility of permanently losing her right to vote.

"It is ironic that I'm fighting for the sanctity of the vote, and they are threatening me with taking away my vote," Balogh said.

She claims that she contacted multiple state representatives and alerted them of her activity on nine different occasions over the past two years, to which she received "two canned responses," and no action — until she was charged a couple of weeks ago.

According to the Web site of The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, anecdotal incidents such as these are anomalies, and voter fraud is, in fact, highly rare.

"There is no documented wave or trend of individuals voting multiple times, voting as someone else, or voting despite knowing they are ineligible," says a passage on the site.

A study on the 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington State from the same Web site revealed that voter fraud occurs only .0009 percent of the time — roughly the equivalent of a person's chance of being hit by lightning.

Spencer Overton, a professor of law at The George Washington University who specializes in voter rights and voter registration, insists that relaxed identity requirements provide more benefit than burden. Lax requirements like those in Washington state, he says, allow for the participation of those who might otherwise would be locked out of the system.

By providing a multiplicity of options for obtaining voter registration, Overton explains, Washington state encourages democratic participation that would otherwise be silenced.

Asked if it was worth the penalty she may receive, Balogh replied, "Yes, it was. As Americans, we have to speak out for things that are wrong, and when the government is not listening."

And what of Duncan M. Macdonald, the Australian shepherd-terrier? As of June 30, records show he is still a registered voter in King County.