'Diversion agreements' OK'd for voters

MANILA, Daggett County — A scandal over voter registration in this small community is getting resolved.

The Utah Attorney General's Office on Friday agreed to "diversion agreements" for 28 of the 51 defendants. If they don't get into trouble in the next six months, misdemeanor charges against them will be dropped.

The case stems from the 2006 race for Daggett County sheriff when challenger Rick Ellsworth beat incumbent Alan Campbell by 20 votes out of 594 cast. Fifty-one people were charged with misdemeanors for illegally registering in Daggett County even though they didn't live or have primary residence in that small county near the Wyoming border.

Assistant Attorney General Pat Nolan told a judge Friday that the diversion agreements were the best way to deal with defendants who didn't live in the county but who believed they had been told they could vote in Daggett anyway.