Kansas City Star | 10/17/2004 | Votes raise question of fraud

Posted on Sun, Oct. 17, 2004

SHANE KEYSER (The Kansas City Star)

Votes raise question of fraud

By GREGORY S. REEVES The Kansas City Star


A prosecutor who tried the only vote-fraud case in recent memory in Jackson County may himself have run afoul of vote-fraud laws, The Kansas City Star has found.

Phil A. LeVota, an assistant county prosecutor and incoming chairman of the Jackson County Democratic Committee, voted in two elections this year in Independence after moving to Lee's Summit in August 2003, records show.

Intentionally voting where you don't live is a Class 1 election felony in Missouri, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

LeVota said he never knowingly defrauded election officials or anyone else.

"I never would even dream of doing that," LeVota said. "Every time I ever voted, I voted from where I believed I was registered to vote and was able to vote."

After moving to Lee's Summit, LeVota changed his voter registration to his mother's home in Independence on Dec. 1, records show. He voted in Independence on Feb. 3 in the presidential and city primary elections and on April 6, which featured Independence City Council and school board races, before changing his registration to his Lee's Summit address on June 8.

LeVota said he voted in every election and had no special interest in the two Independence elections.

When asked whether he may have committed vote fraud by returning to Independence to vote in the two elections, LeVota said there were periods of time - since August 2003 that he did not live in Lee's Summit. LeVota said his mother owned a home in Independence near his old address and he stayed there “when I needed a place to stay.”

LeVota said he was reluctant to detail his living arrangements but acknowledged that he did not move in with his mother.

“There's a lot of different meanings to the word ‘live,' ” he said. “Did I move in, ‘Hi Mom, I'm paying rent, I'm going to live with you?' No.”

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