Voting Often

Absolutely incredible. The Kansas City Star had a story yesterday about people who have voted multiple times in recent elections, including a local lawyer.

• Prairie Village businesswoman Lorraine E. Goodrich, 39, who said the issue for her was helping Bartle Hall. She wanted to support the hotel and restaurant tax increase on the Kansas City ballot in November 2002.

“I felt very strongly about it,” said Goodrich, who owned a staffing agency in an office at 912 Baltimore Ave. and is registered to vote in both states. “I certainly felt more strongly about that than anything that goes on in Kansas.

“A lot of things happened in Missouri that I wanted to have an opinion about.”

So she cast an advance ballot in Johnson County, then crossed the state line to go to the polls near her downtown business address, records show.

“I'm trying to think what spin I can put on this,” said Goodrich, who promotes businesspeople meeting in a party atmosphere, which is called a “marty” — a combination of the words meeting and party. She describes herself as Kansas City's “marty diva.”

“I probably shouldn't have voted in Kansas,” Goodrich said. “That was a mistake. Whoops! Oh my God, I'm going to get in so much trouble, aren't I?”

Umm, yeah, I think you are . . .

As for the lawyer, he is refreshing in his directness:

“I was wrong in what I did,” said James D. Scherzer, an attorney who acknowledged to the newspaper that he voted in Kansas City and Kansas City, Kan., in the August 2000 primary election.

Then he did it again in elections in November 2000, August 2002 and November 2002.

. . .

• Scherzer, 68, who said he acted on his own with no particular motive.

“I don't have some rationale, or a highfalutin story,” he said.

Scherzer, who has law offices in Kansas City and Kansas City, Kan., said he expected to lose his law licenses in both states or see them suspended over the matter.

“They hold attorneys to a high standard,” Scherzer said. “You just can't do something this wrong and then say, ‘I didn't know any better.'”

I often shake my head when I realize that a stupid person's vote counts as much as anyone's, but it really bothers me to see that sometimes counts twice . . .