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UNH student indicted for allegedly voting twice in 2016 election

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CONCORD - A Durham man alleged to have voted twice in the November 2016 election faces an October arraignment in a Dover court and up to seven years in prison if convicted.

Spencer McKinnon, 20, of Marston House, UNH campus, was indicted this month by a Strafford County Grand Jury for alleged violations of RSA 659:34-a for knowingly voting in more than one state.

Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald announced the indictment today, the same day they were released to the public.

The indictment alleges that McKinnon checked in at the checklist and cast a ballot in Durham and also submitted an absentee ballot for the same General Election in Dracut, Mass, where he grew up and went to high school, according to his Facebook page.

Under New Hampshire law, it is a class B felony to knowingly check in at the checklist and cast a New Hampshire ballot on which one or more federal or statewide offices are listed if the person also casts a ballot in the same election held in any other state where one or more federal or statewide offices are listed.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of 3 ½-7 years of imprisonment and a $4,000 fine. Additionally, anyone convicted of a willful violation of the state's election laws may lose the right to vote in this state pursuant to the New Hampshire Constitution.

New Hampshire is part of the Interstate Voter Crosscheck Program, which is a multi-state database that is used to compare voter information for the purpose of detecting voters who are registered in more than one state.

The Secretary of State is tasked with the responsibility of investigating matches found in the crosscheck database for the purpose of determining if an individual has cast more than one ballot in a single election. The results of that investigation are then forwarded to the Attorney General.

In May the Secretary of State's office referred 51 cases to the Attorney General for further investigation. The Attorney General's investigation into these cases remains active and ongoing.

McKinnon is the third person indicted since New Hampshire entered the Interstate Voter Crosscheck Program signed into law in 2016.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt, rather that enough evidence has been gathered to warrant a trial.

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