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Rumor of mass voter registration by YFZ residents proves untrue

	Deputy Tax Assessor/Collector Jennifer Henderson looks over a list of newly registered voters. Among the things she checks for is dual registration, to determine if a new Schleicher County voter is still registered to vote in another jurisdiction.

A rumor that 600 people residing at the YFZ Ranch registered to vote recently when they obtained Texas driver’s licenses in San Angelo has turned out to be unfounded. The story swept through town late last week prompting numerous calls to the Success office.

Schleicher County Tax Assessor/Collector Jeanne Snelson, who also serves as the county’s voter registrar, refuted the story. She said that her office had received a number of calls last week asking about the story.

Snelson’s deputy Jennifer Henderson demonstrated how she closely monitors voter registration, including those who register when they obtain a driver’s license. She noted that the information is transmitted to the Secretary of State’s office in Austin and then back to Schleicher County via data link.

“Believe me, if we had received 600 we would have known it,” Henderson said.

In fact the office had received fewer than twenty registrations in recent weeks, none of them with an address at the YFZ Ranch. Neither were any of the registrants transfers from Arizona or Utah. Most residents of the YFZ Ranch reportedly moved here from Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, UT, a town that straddles the line dividing the two states.

Monitoring voter registration is by no means the only thing keeping the Tax Assessor/Collector’s office busy. Jeanne Snelson explained that her office is currently verifying the signatures on a petition the county received that calls for an election regarding a property tax freeze for senior citizens and disabled residents. The petition’s 114 signatures exceeds by 19 the number called for by state statute — 5 percent of the county’s 1,899 registered voters.

Snelson and Henderson must now verify each signature to determine if it matches the signature on the official voter’s registration list if the signature was received within the proper time frame.

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The Eldorado Success invites Warren Jeffs and/or other leaders of the FLDS church to comment on this or any other story surrounding the FLDS and the YFZ Ranch.