Va. Voter Fraud Charges Against Pa. Man Dismissed

A judge dismissed misdemeanor charges against a Pennsylvania man accused of throwing away Virginia voter registration forms.

Colin Small, 23, of Phoenixville, Pa., was charged in October 2012 with four misdemeanor counts of destroying voter registration forms, eight related felony counts of disclosing Social Security numbers and misdemeanor obstruction of justice.

Media outlets report that Rockingham County General District Court Marvin Hillsman dismissed the voter registration form charges and prosecutors dropped the obstruction charge on Tuesday.

Hillsman had dismissed the felony charges in April.

Small was accused of tossing eight completed voter registration forms into a trash bin behind a Harrisonburg store on Oct 15, 2012, the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6, 2012, general election. The store's manager told police that he saw a man dump a white trash bag into the bin. The manager retrieved the bag, found the voter registration forms and called police.

Small was arrested three days later.

The forms were rushed to the Rockingham County registrar's office, just before the 5 p.m. deadline to register to vote.

Five of the potential voters lived in Rockingham, two in Augusta County and one in Page County. Three were already registered voters. One was denied because of a felony conviction, and the other four were successfully processed, Nikki Sheridan with the state Board of Elections has said.

Police have said Small was working for Pinpoint at the time. Pinpoint is an independent contractor that the Republican Party of Virginia had hired to conduct voter registration drives.

Small has not commented on the case.