A grand jury has indicted a former Clackamas County election worker accused of tampering with ballots before the November election, state officials said Thursday. Deanna Swenson, 55, of Oregon City, has been charged with altering a cast ballot, unlawfully voting more than once and official misconduct, Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said. Swenson, who has yet to be taken into custody, is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 4. She did not return a message left on her answering machine and it is unknown if she has hired a lawyer. Investigators found no evidence that others were involved.
Swenson, a temporary employee who had worked for the county in prior elections, is accused of filling in ovals on ballots where preferences had been left empty by voters.
The alleged misconduct occurred Oct. 31, less than a week before the general election, when another election worker claimed to see the registered Republican marking a partially complete ballot. It is common for voters to make choices in high-profile races and then skip the local contests in which the names of the candidates are unfamiliar.
Full Article: Election worker in Oregon indicted in ballot-tampering case | HeraldNet.com – Northwest.