Cache County election employee faces felony accusing him of forging election doc

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LOGAN — A Cache County election employee has been charged with utilizing doc modifying software program to change a doc “associated to the functioning of vote tabulating machines.”

Dustin James Hansen, 31, was charged Friday with willful neglect of obligation by ballot employee, a third-degree felony.

Hansen was answerable for “delivering a doc associated to the functioning of vote tabulating machines to the Lieutenant Governor’s Workplace and solid the doc to mirror a completion date that was completely different than when the report was truly made,” charging paperwork state. “The Lieutenant Governor’s Workplace inspected the doc and suspected it had been altered. After an investigation, it was discovered that defendant had used PDF modifying software program on his work pc to change the doc.”

A logic and accuracy take a look at is supposed to make sure that all tabulation gear is working correctly and that ballots are being counted accurately. In keeping with the Utah Election Handbook, it’s “the act of testing each poll fashion, from each supply, on every bit of voting gear.”

An inside and a public take a look at of this type are required by statute in Utah, earlier than an election.

Earlier than the election, members of Lt. Gov. Deirdre Henderson’s workers visited Logan, however the Cache County Clerk’s Workplace was unable to supply the state with documentation of its required logic and accuracy exams, in accordance with an election investigation report from the lieutenant governor’s workplace. In a follow-up, the report stated the clerk’s workplace claimed it did a logic and accuracy exams on Oct. 27, 2023, however the exams they despatched have been dated Oct. 26.

In that testing documentation, considerations have been raised, as a result of “not one of the reviews have been signed by the people who carried out the exams,” and two reviews generated on separate gear had an identical timestamps all the way down to the second.

The falsification of the paperwork grew to become extra clear, because the election report stated errors within the election database have been recognized, leading to incorrect ballots being mailed to Paradise, Amalga and a number of other precincts in Logan.

The reviews supplied by the clerk’s workplace, dated Oct. 26, contained the corrected database data, however the clerk’s workplace was not conscious of errors in its database till later, making the outcomes not possible.

On Friday, Dec. 8, Cache County Clerk David Benson stated he was notified of this by elections workers from the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Workplace. That following Monday, Benson positioned two elections workers members on administrative depart, and “voluntarily recused” himself till an investigation was performed.

In keeping with each Benson and the state’s investigation report, the problem didn’t influence the outcomes of the elections, as the brand new database was used.

Henderson’s report offered a listing of 31 findings and suggestions for Benson to handle, after discovering the election to be “deeply troubling,” with “an unprecedented lack of controls, widespread violations of Utah election legislation and administrative rule.”

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