The 2008 Presidential election saw the highest number of voters in U.S. history hit the polls.But for one Mankato man, registering and voting landed him in hot water. News 12's Nathan Harrington joins us now with the story.31-year-old Shawn Scott DeAtley made his first court appearance today after being charged with one felony charge of voting while ineligible to vote.According to Chris Rovney of the Blue Earth County Attorney's office, DeAtley was accused of burglary in 2005 and received probation.However the length of his probation was not up before the November election.So when he went to the polls in Blue Earth County, he broke the law.Christopher Rovney says, "Registering to vote and then actually voting while being a convicted felon, you're not allowed to do that in the state of Minnesota unless you have had your civil rights restored."Blue Earth County's Elections Director Patty O'Connor was notified by the secretary of the state's Voter Registration System about DeAtley earlier this year, then provided documents to the Sheriff's office that lead to the charge.O'Connor is out of town but we spoke to her by phone today and she told us this wasn't the first time a convicted felon has been confused about their voting eligibility.Patty O'Connor says, "We deal with these kinds of phone calls all the time. So it's not like it's not a conversation we didn't have with people. We train our election judges on how to deal with it, but every once in a while, somebody gets missed."O'Connor says every polling place had signs warning convicted felons of what can happen if they vote while ineligible.But a vetoed bill during last year's legislative session could have changed how election officials weed out those that aren't allowed to cast a ballot.Patty O'Connor says, "There was another piece of legislation that would have given us better access to Department of Corrections information so that we would have had this young man marked."Our efforts to contact Mister DeAtley were unsuccessful today, however we do know he was assigned a public defender, and will make his next court appearance on November ninth.Assistant County Attorney Chris Rovney did tell me this is the first time he has ever handled this type of case.The maximum penalty for voting while ineligible is 5 years and or a ten thousand dollar fine.Live in the Newsroom, Nathan Harrington, News 12.