KING COUNTY - A fake utility bill and a paw print was all it took for one Federal Way woman to register her dog to vote. Now King County Elections is under fire for what this woman calls a "broken system".

It may all sound like a joke, but Jane Balogh says she wanted to prove a serious point. If her dog can get a voter registration ballot, what's stopping others from voting illegally in our elections?

"I guess I care too much about my country," she said.

Balogh said she never meant to commit a crime; she said she just wanted to expose a flaw in the voting system.

"There are so many things in the state that don't make sense and they're not for the betterment," she said.

So Balogh filled out a voter registration form with a real name, a real birth date and a fake signature.

"I thought to myself, 'God, our system is so lax, even my dog could vote. Hey, that's a good idea.'"

Sure enough, the registration card arrived in the mail for "Duncan McDonald." Balogh had managed to get a registration for her Australian shepherd-terrier mix, no questions asked.

"He's an independent, just like his mother," she said of her dog.

Duncan filled out his ballot in September and signed it with a paw print. He didn't actually vote, but Balogh mailed his ballot to King County Elections.

At first, there were still no questions being asked.

"Nothing. I thought, 'what is going on here? This can't be true. Someone has to show an interest,'" Balogh said.

An elections worker did show an interest in the next election. She called with questions about the signature.

"She said, 'you can't sign with a paw.' I said, 'you can if you're a dog.' There was a long hesitation. She said, 'it's a dog?' I said 'yes,'" Balogh said.

But the county never followed up, until last month. On Thursday, Balogh got a letter saying she would be charged with a misdemeanor.

"This situation confirms that our safeguards are in place to detect voter fraud," the letter said.

But Balogh wonders why it took so long.

Balogh says she checked the county Web site and, at last check on Friday, the site still listed Duncan as a legal voter.

Balogh will be arraigned in court Tuesday. Prosecutors say they could up the charge to a felony if she pleads not guilty.