WILLMAR, Minn. - Three convicted felons in west central Minnesota have been charged with knowingly voting as an ineligible person in the 2016 general election.
Bret Joseph Kasel, 34, and Darrell Leonard Webb, 57, both of Willmar, were charged in Kandiyohi County. Kasel was charged Feb. 22, and Webb March 1.
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Lisa Suzanne Anderson, 51, of Starbuck, was charged Feb. 28 in Pope County.
All three are accused of voting before they had completed probation for felony convictions. All also reportedly said they did not know they were ineligible to vote.
By Minnesota law, convicted felons are legally prohibited from voting while they serve all parts of their sentence.
Kasel completed his felony probation last December. But a month before that, he voted, according to his criminal complaint. He was "under the impression that he could vote," according to the criminal complaint.
Police received a report Dec. 16 from the Kandiyohi County Auditor's Office that Webb had voted in the Nov. 8 election. According to the criminal complaint filed with his charges, he spoke with a Willmar police officer, and told him that his last felony conviction was in 1989.
Webb did not tell the officer about his most recent August 2016 felony conviction, according to the criminal complaint. He told police that he signed the voter registration without reading what it had said.
Webb is facing an additional felony charge for registering as an ineligible voter.
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Anderson reportedly met with the Starbuck police chief Nov. 9, after the city clerk informed police that Anderson may have illegally voted.
At that time, Anderson told the chief that she was not a felon, and had finished probation, according to the criminal complaint on her charge.
But the chief checked her criminal history, and discovered she was on probation through the year 2020 for a fifth-degree drug possession charge.
The maximum sentence for knowingly voting as an ineligible person is five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
