- November 5, 2024
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Generally, a sense of civic engagement is a positive thing. But it got two Flagler County residents in trouble last week: A Flagler Beach man and a Palm Coast woman have been arrested on charges of voting illegally in last year's elections even though their voting rights were suspended because they were felons.
Victoria Stallings, 56, was arrested Oct. 3 and Walter Hoback, 66, was arrested Oct. 4.
Flagler County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested both on warrants after an investigation by the State Attorney's Office 7th Circuit. Both face two felony charges: false swearing/submission of false voter information; and unqualified elector willfully voting.
Hoback had submitted a voter registration form at the Flagler County Supervisor of Elections Office sometime between Sept. 26, 2016, and Nov. 8, 2016, and had affirmed on the form that he was not a convicted felon whose voting rights had not been restored.
"The affirmation was not true, and defendant knew as much," a State Attorney's Office 7th Circuit charging affidavit states.
Hoback then voted at the Flagler Beach City Commission chambers on Election Day Nov. 8, according to the affidavit.
Stallings had tried to register to vote in Volusia County in 2008 but was rejected because she was a felon. In 2012, she submitted an application to register in Flagler County, falsely affirming that she was not a felon whose voting rights had not been restored, according to a charging affidavit.
She then voted at the Palm Coast Community Center on an early voting day Nov. 3, 2016.
Stallings knew she was not eligible to vote: "This knowledge is demonstrated over an approximate 8-year period through multiple attempts to register to vote in two Florida counties and being rejected due to her felon status," according to the charging affidavit.
