Southern Nevada woman is arrested on suspicion of trying to vote twice

Investigators today arrested a Southern Nevada woman suspected of trying to vote twice this week at two different polling locations.

Roxanne Rubin was taken into custody as she arrived for work at the Riviera hotel-casino, investigators said. Rubin, 56, is a registered Republican who lives in Henderson, according to the Clark County Registrar.

Rubin allegedly cast a vote Monday at the Anthem Community Center in Henderson. Later that day, she tried to vote a second time at an early voting location on Eastern Avenue, investigators said.

When Rubin arrived at the second location, a poll worker conducted a routine database check and found Rubin had already voted. When confronted by the poll worker, Rubin denied having voted and claimed the database used by the poll worker was wrong.

Poll workers at the Eastern Avenue location blocked Rubin from voting and notified the county registrar's office, who forwarded the complaint to the Nevada secretary of state.

"There are two important points worth noting in this case," Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller said. "First, is that as we've said and demonstrated in the past, we take all elections complaints very seriously and investigate them thoroughly. Second, this demonstrates the integrity of the system. Someone thought that by going to two different locations they'd be able to cast two ballots. The system immediately caught that, the Task Force responded, and an arrest was made."

"It's also worth noting that the Task Force has at least one other case of voting or attempting to vote twice in an election presently under investigation," Miller said. "We will pursue all such cases and complaints aggressively."

Rubin was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one felony count of voting twice in the same election.

The Elections Integrity Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional task force made up of state and federal investigators.

While allegations of voter fraud or faulty voting machines are common during a busy election, Clark County Registrar Larry Lomax said this is the first time in his 15 years on the job that a voter has been arrested for trying to cast two ballots.

During early voting, poll workers use a database to look up a voter's registration when the voter checks in at the poll. A card used to activate the voting machine is then programmed with the voter's information and the voter is logged as having cast a ballot. If the voter tries to check in a second time, an alert will flash on a poll worker's screen, Lomax said.

"When we pull you up, if you already voted, it says so right on the screen," Lomax said. "It says this person voted at this site, where and when they voted."

Daily audits are done at each early voting site to make sure the number of activated cards match the number of ballots cast. In Rubin's case, the card numbers matched the number of ballots submitted exactly, dispelling any concerns that Rubin may have received an activated card but never cast a ballot, Lomax said.