Illinois election officials are investigating a complaint that several members of the LDS Church were not allowed to register to vote in the upcoming Nauvoo city elections.
Dan White, assistant director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, said the probe won't be completed before Tuesday's election, in which two Mormons are running for city office — real estate agent Dan Capener for mayor, and trucking firm manager Larry Porter for City Council. If Capener, a Republican running against incumbent Democrat Tom Wilson, were to be elected, the office would go to a Latter-day Saint for the first time in 20 years.
Some local residents have raised the question of whether Capener's and Porter's loyalties to the best interest of the town would be conflicted. With reconstruction of the Nauvoo LDS Temple well under way, the church is now a major factor in municipal decision-making, from economic development to traffic control.
The complaint alleging irregularities in Nauvoo's voter registration was lodged by Nauvoo motel owner Kay Walker.
White said Walker's complaint alleges 15 Latter-day Saints who rent housing from him tried to register to vote but were turned away because they didn't have the proper identification as Nauvoo residents. The complaint said the tenants then asked for letters from Walker verifying how long they had lived in his Nauvoo rental properties. They used those letters to try to prove residency in order to register.
The complaint "doesn't specifically state why these persons were improperly denied the right to register. That's what we're going to try and find out," White said.
The complaint says Walker's tenants have been residing in Nauvoo for one year or longer.
While the complaint mentions the mayor's race involves a fellow church member, White said, it doesn't specifically allege religious discrimination.
"That would not be something we would focus on. We would see them as otherwise eligible citizens being deprived of the right to vote. The religious part, if there is that part — if we have people testifying to that in their interviews, we would refer it to law enforcement," White said.
Under Illinois law, a person has to be living in the state for 30 days to establish residency to vote, regardless of how long the person plans to stay. Residents must have two forms of identification, including one with a current address, White said. Acceptable identification includes, but is not limited to, a driver's license, Social Security card, credit card billing, utility bill or other identification listing the person's current address.
An elections office investigator from Springfield will be interviewing those denied registration as well as election officials in Nauvoo and Hancock County. White said investigators do not comment on their findings until their work is complete.
Walker, a prominent LDS businessman who owns the Nauvoo Family Motel, said the tenants who came to him seeking letters to establish residency are helping with temple construction. "They're volunteers like mechanical engineers, donating their time for two years to work on the temple," he said.
"They started with the city clerk (to register). The city was registering people originally for this election. Apparently they were asking questions like 'Do you have another home?' and 'Why do you want to register?' That's not part of the process of being an American citizen," Walker said.
"Some tried to register three or four times. Every time they went, they found a different set of rules," he said.
An employee at the Nauvoo city clerk's office declined to comment on voter registration matters and Hancock County officials could not be reached.
Steven and June Call are two of those who told Walker they had trouble registering, but they also declined to discuss with the Deseret News any difficulties they may have had.
R.J. Snow, public affairs director for the LDS Church in Nauvoo, said he doesn't know of any missionaries for the church who attempted to register. Scores of older couples and some young adults are serving missions in Nauvoo.
Because the church maintains strict political neutrality, no one is instructed regarding political involvement, Snow said. A question about voting was discussed several months ago among missionary leadership in Nauvoo, he said. "It was determined that if we were asked, we would invite people to consider" their permanent residence in other areas "where they have traditionally voted and paid taxes.
"That's not directing them with what to do regarding personal decisions. Most of us are not residents here and feel an election should be determined by those who are," he said.
Capener agrees. He said he decided to run for mayor after a non-Mormon asked him to consider it. Capener said his support "really comes from interested individuals within the Republican party in Nauvoo," where 40 percent of some 770 registered voters are Republican.
The three-year resident who moved to Nauvoo with his wife and five children from the San Francisco Bay area said there is some tension in town over the impact the temple's reconstruction has had and will have in the future. "There are some families that feel very strongly that the temple will change Nauvoo adversely and their wish was that we would all just turn around and move back West. But they are a minority," he said.
Capener acknowledged there is "definitely a concern by some prominent citizens that my first loyalty be to the citizens of Nauvoo. I feel strongly that if elected, I would first represent the city as mayor in any situation by trying to help ease the tensions that exist here from the influx of tourists and the impact they have on city services."
Regarding the voter registration controversy, Capener believes "if anything, it negatively impacts my candidacy. I believe that church members who are serving on missions here in Nauvoo who are most likely registered to vote in localities where they reside as permanent residents should not be concerned or allowed to have a voice in our local politics. It's not their intent to be permanent residents."
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com