She added she voted for Nader via the swap in order to help Nader get his share of the national popular vote. If he got 5 percent or more, then he could get federally distributed public funding as well as being in the presidential debates in the next election.

Monson said he doesn't believe vote swapping is a problem, nor is it a widespread phenomenon.

"It's probably a few thousand people nationally out of millions of voters," he said. "If more people were doing it, perhaps we should look into it."

Vote swapping may be gaining popularity, however.

In August, the U.S. 9th Circuit Appeals Court announced its decision on Porter v. Bowen. This case stemmed from vote swapping during the 2000 election. California's Secretary of State shut down voteswap2000

.com and votexchange2000.com. The Web sites took the issue to court, which eventually ruled the sites are protected by the First Amendment.

Matthew Burbank, associate professor of political science at the University of Utah, points to a major flaw in vote swapping: "It's trusting someone to do something that you absolutely cannot verify. There is no way to know that person didn't vote for whoever they wanted."

Parker admits vote pairing is based purely on honesty.

"It's a good-faith thing," she said. "I trusted him to do what he said, and he trusted me."

Burbank points out, even if vote pairing was illegal, there is no way to prosecute it because how a person votes is confidential. "There is likely no chance of being prosecuted for it," he said.

When asked which he feels is worse, vote swapping or simply not voting at all, Monson said, "Neither. Just go vote."

He said there are other things on the ballot, such as local races and issues. "Don't just stay home," he said.

Further, instead of swapping votes, Democrats in Utah can try and strengthen their party, Monson said. "Talk to your friends and neighbors," he said. "Get them to vote for your candidate."

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E-mail: astewart@desnews.com