Chuck Burns of Huntington Beach grew concerned as he heard repeated – but mostly unsubstantiated – allegations of voter fraud last year. So once the November election was over, he decided to see how easy it was to use fake information.

He was able to register to vote as Clyde Barrow, the name inspired by the Bonnie-and-Clyde outlaw.

But like the real-life Barrow, Burns may soon find himself with the law on his trail.

While Burns’ “Barrow” registration did make it to the state voter rolls, his fake driver’s license number was caught, and he would have been required to show valid ID the first time he tried to vote under the false name.

But let’s look at exactly what happened and the safeguards against scofflaws.

Burns filled out an online registration using phony driver’s license and Social Security numbers and a fake date of birth and birthplace. The online system instantly checks the info against DMV records, so when Burns hit the “submit” button, he was told there was no DMV match and he’d have to fill out a paper application.

When Burns hit the button saying he did not have the ability to print an application, it triggered the elections office to send him a form to sign. He signed it and returned it, then got a card verifying that he’d been registered.

“I was really bummed that I could vote as Clyde Barrow,” said the retired post office clerk. “It would have been my ideal outcome to have them reject it.”

Burns said he then wrote the county and state elections offices as well as his county supervisor, Michelle Steel, and state assemblyman, Travis Allen, explaining what he’d done and alerting them to what he believed was a faulty registration system. When he didn’t hear back, he wrote the Register.

Jail time ahead?

You don’t need a driver’s license or state ID or Social Security number to register to vote. But if you don’t have those, you are required to show a form of identification the first time you vote in a federal election.

If you vote by mail – “Clyde Barrow” was registered as a permanent mail voter – you are required to include a copy of your ID in the first mail ballot you cast. A variety of IDs are acceptable, including a credit card, a utility bill or a bank statement.

Burns was unaware of this ID requirement until I paraphrased the passage from the Secretary of State’s website.

“That eases some of my concerns,” he said. “I guess I’m wondering why they don’t check it more thoroughly before you register to vote. Why not take care of it right away?”

Neal Kelley, Orange County registrar of voters, said that the Clyde Barrow registration had been flagged to require ID when voting for the first time and that the system worked the way it was supposed to. He has repeatedly said that instances of voter fraud are very few nationwide and that he knows of none in the county since he started in the elections office in 2004.

Richard Hasen, who specializes in election law at UC Irvine, concurred.

“Seems like most of the fraud we see these days is from people believing there is fraud and trying to test the system,” Hasen said. He said the idea of trying to swing an election through fraudulent voting “seems silly given the high risk of detection and the small payoff in terms of being able to influence the outcome.”

It’s unclear whether an investigation was underway for Burns’ voter fraud before I called the county and state elections office, but Kelley said Thursday that the state is now looking into the incident and the county District Attorney’s Office is likely to be involved.

State elections code provides a maximum of three years in prison for falsely registering to vote.

Burns said his wife was more concerned about him getting in trouble than he was, noting that he had alerted authorities about what he’d done.

“If I end up having some legal problems, so be it,” he said of his effort to see whether voter fraud was possible. “I just wanted to find out if it was true.”

GOP chair re-elected

Fred Whitaker, chairman of the county Republican Party since 2015, was unanimously re-elected to the post by the party’s governing Central Committee on Jan. 16.

Also unanimously re-elected to their posts were First Vice Chairman John Warner, Secretary Peggy Huang, Parliamentarian Kermit Marsh and Sergeant at Arms Tim Whitacre. TJ Fuentes, son of former party Chairman Tom Fuentes, left his seat as assistant treasurer and was elected second vice chairman.

Newly elected to the executive committee were Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Laurie Davies, who is now the assistant treasurer, and former county GOP Executive Director Erik Weigand, who is now treasurer. Stepping down from the executive committee were Irvine Councilman Jeff Lalloway and longtime volunteer Mary Young.

The Central Committee also honored former Republican National Committeewoman Linda Ackerman with a lifetime service award and bestowed volunteer of the year honors on Ellen Addonizio and Sam Iguchi.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@scng.com