Man admits to illegally voting in both Kansas, Nebraska

HAYS — A man who voted illegally in both Kansas and Nebraska in 2012 has been fined $5,500.

Michael L. Hannum now lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and pleaded guilty Thursday in Johnson County, Kansas, to three misdemeanors. The convictions are the third under a new state law that gives Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach the power to prosecute election fraud allegations. Kobach says in a news release that the fine will “deter others.”

Hannum said earlier this year that he was traveling regularly at the time between a home in Johnson County, Kansas, and Omaha, Nebraska, to visit family following his 83-year-old father’s death in early 2011.

He said authorities previously told him they closed their investigations and wouldn’t file charges because they didn’t believe the double voting was deliberate.