East TN Conservative

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Midstate family claims that someone stole votes from a mentally challenged woman who lives in a state-run facility.

The state is investigating the claim.

Although there are laws to prevent such a crime, it still happens.

Kelly Harper, 24, never recovered from a childhood accident.

A head injury caused a stroke and, in essence, froze her brain in time.

"Mentally, she's at the 1-year-old stage," said her mother Becky Moss.

Helpless on her own, Kelly's lived at the state-run Clover Bottom Developmental Center in Nashville the past 16 years.

Moss is Harper's conservator.

A court order gives Moss authority to make any and all decisions regarding her daughter.

"She cannot drive. She cannot read. She cannot write. She can't make decision for herself," Moss said.

Still, under the law, Kelly has the right to vote. Her family only wishes she could.

But, she must choose to vote and that's something her family says she can't do.

She would have no idea who she's voting for, Moss said.

"Absolutely not," she said. "(She) wouldn't care."

Harper never asked.

So her family was stunned to learn someone registered her to vote.

"I was astonished," Moss said.

Harper voted once in a primary and once in a state general election.

She voted for governor, U.S. Senate, House of Representative and local races.

Moss knew nothing about it.

"Somebody, if she has voted, has done it for her," she said. "They're taking advantage of her."

She blames Clover Bottom.

"Her mark looks like a line with a little jump in it," she said.

The staff legally helps residents exercise their right to vote, but do they go too far?

"Her rights have been violated," said constitutional attorney David Raybin.

He said Harper must make an independent choice to vote.

After watching her on tape, he said, ‘I don't think she's capable of exercising independent judgment.

And, if she can't make her own choice, someone else apparently did.

"Of course, it's dangerous," he said.

A group of people who want to get votes for a particular candidate could go to an institution and take advantage of people not able to make free choices.

Moss fears someone voted twice using her daughter's vote.

She knows there are others at Clover Bottom and at two other state-run facilities who are profoundly disabled.

Did the same thing happen to them? And how long has this been going on?

Raybin said there are many questions that need to be answered.

"To take advantage of someone or a group of people like that is absolutely wrong," he said. "It's criminal."

Is this voter fraud?

This comes just days before the state presidential primary election.

Fifty-five residents are registered to vote at Clover Bottom. They do have every right to vote.

But a person must be capable of making that decision on their own.

State officials said what NewsChannel 5 uncovered prompted them to investigate the matter.

On Friday, NewsChannel 5 will focus on their reaction and that of Clover Bottom. It will also focus on how this could happen and how it could affect the upcoming election.