Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan won’t look into allegations that the Democratic candidate for county commissioner engaged in illegal voting.
The allegations, made by Flathead County Republican Chairman Jayson Peters on Oct. 1, accuse Stacey Schnebel of committing misdemeanor offenses when she moved to Coram in 2008 but continued voting in Whitefish municipal elections in 2009 and 2011.
Peters alleged such voting shows that Schnebel and her husband Seth are guilty of a misdemeanor according to state law, and that state law also says someone who is found guilty of violating Montana’s election laws “must be removed from nomination or office.”
On Oct. 9, Corrigan said it is protocol for his office to refer complaints about political practices to the Commissioner of Political Practice’s office.
As for misdemeanor charges, Corrigan said it was not anything his office would pursue.
“It’s pretty easy (not to pursue the case) on legal grounds, given the statute of limitations for a misdemeanor is one year,” Corrigan said. “There’s nothing to prosecute as far as criminal offense.”
Corrigan said as much in an Oct. 9 response letter to Peters.
Schnebel wrote an Oct. 6 response to the allegations, which read in part:
“I became an active Montana voter in Whitefish in 2002. In 2006, my husband and I bought our log cabin in Coram, to which we moved in 2007. We were married and I changed my name in 2008, and then I updated my drivers license in 2009. Later in 2009 we purchased the Stonefly Lounge and its liquor license, and I underwent the requisite review by the Montana Departments of Revenue and Justice.”
“Despite these four interactions with various county agencies, I was never prompted to nor given the opportunity to update my voter registration. So from 2007 to 2011, I dutifully showed up and voted at my precinct in Whitefish, not just twice, but six times. In 2012, of my own volition, I updated my voter registration. That was two election cycles ago, and I have voted in three elections in my precinct since then.”
Click here to read Ed Corrigan’s Oct. 9 letter to Jayson Peters.