GOP hopeful challenges 1,500 on voter list

Clerk says it may be act of intimidation against Democrats

By Josh Loftin
Desert Morning News  01 November 2004

      While many political candidates become proficient in producing fliers, glad-handing neighbors and speaking publicly, one legislative candidate has seemed to master the art of filing complaints.
      Derek Carsno, the Republican challenger to Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, in House District 37, submitted a list of more than 1,500 names who he claimed were registered voters who no longer lived in the district and should be either disqualified or allowed to vote with a provisional ballot only after they proved their identity and residence.
      "It was a massive list," Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said Sunday. Normally, voting registrations are challenged individually, "never in a list like this."
      Which means that on top of the many other pre-Election Day problems which Swensen's office is trying to manage ? such as placing Salt Lake County mayoral candidate Ellis Ivory's name on hundreds of thousands of ballots ? she spent the past three days contacting people on the list to verify their residency. In doing so, she started to notice a pattern: Many of the voters were registered as Democrats. 
      "It became quite obvious to me that these were just voters who registered as a party other than Mr. Carsno's," Swensen said. "For somebody to challenge somebody's constitutional right to vote without a vaild reason, it's just unconscionable."
      It may also be illegal. At the behest of the Lieutenant Governor's Office, Swensen contacted the U.S. Department of Justice and was told that it may violate federal voting laws that prohibit intimidation of voters. As for the immediate problem, she plans to randomly check registrations on the list today, after which she can dismiss the complaint if there is not any sign of registration problems.
      Carsno did not return phone calls Sunday.
      During a news conference at Utah Democratic headquarters, Moss said that many of the challenged voters were long-time friends and neighbors of hers, all of whom were registered Democrats. Many of them are also elderly, "and it would be disconcerting if they had to fill out a provisional ballot."
      Thursday's complaint is actually the latest in a series of complaints Carsno has filed this year. On Oct. 4, he filed a complaint with the state elections office alleging that, among other things, she did not report her legislative compensation on her financial disclosure form, which is not considered a campaign contribution. Earlier this year, Swensen said that he filed a complaint with her office challenging the residency of his primary opponent and then later defended a Democratic challenge to his residency by stating that they challenged it too late.
      State Democratic Chairman Donald Dunn said Sunday that the challenge raises concerns within party circles that there may be further attempts to intimidate voters on Tuesday and urged anyone who does see a problem to contact their county clerk or their political party.
      "We only need to look at 2000 and what happened in other states," he said. "Elections are very important in this country, so when something like this happens, we want to make sure it is stopped."