Counselor’s Corner:

In old Chicago, it was dead people voting myriad times; here it is a pooch on the voting rolls.

Balogh’s concern is that others are loading the voting rolls with people, animals, whatever, getting absentee ballots and are then able to vote more than once. She is now charged with felony voter fraud, which could lead to a year in jail.

Locally, other than with election officials and police officers, Balogh has become pretty popular. Her actions are constant fodder for local talk radio where she is deemed quite the clever person.

On the other hand, the Seattle Times describes her behavior as having “crossed the line.” Balogh, 66, says she is shy and somewhat of a recluse and cannot believe all of the attention she has been getting.

This is not causing her to back down, however. She hired a lawyer and plans to take her case to trial.

Balogh’s point is that she is not the one who wants to affect an election; she wants to show election officials how easy it is to register an entity that should not be permitted to.

I would agree that technically Balogh broke the law; however, I do not think she deserves a jail sentence or even a criminal conviction for that matter. One might argue that she performed a service for King County, and hopefully the county will get its act together with respect to getting appropriate people on and off the voting rolls.

If Balogh had just written a letter to the election officials complaining about things, I don’t imagine anyone would have taken action. The fact that her dog, Duncan, is registered to vote and this matter is now in the press will hopefully lead to change.

 CHARLES J. UNGER is a criminal defense attorney in the Glendale law firm of Flanagan, Unger & Grover, and a therapist at the Foothill Centre for Personal and Family Growth. He may be reached at (818) 244-8694 or at www.charlieunger.com.