His vote apparently still counts, but Eric Stephen Willems will spend a month in jail for casting it.

Willems, 25, of Warroad, Minn., was released from prison in early 2008, and on Election Day exercised his "right" to vote -- a right he lost with his 2004 felony conviction for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.

He has admitted he was told upon release that he couldn't vote but "must have gapped it out."

Willems voted in Roseau County in November. Election officials didn't recognize him as an illegal voter, but he had told his probation officer -- as he was required to do -- where he would be that day. The probation officer later broke the news to him that voting was a no-no and informed county officials.

Willems originally was charged with a felony for his illegal vote, but the charge was reduced to a gross misdemeanor. He was sentenced Monday in Roseau County Court to one year in jail with all but 30 days stayed for three years.

At the time of Willems' arrest in November, a spokesman for the Minnesota secretary of state's office told MinnPost that felons voting or attempting to vote in the state was rare. In the 2004 and 2006 elections, he said, a total of three felons voted.

Willems told the Grand Forks Herald that he voted for Barack Obama for president and Norm Coleman for U.S. senator, but county officials said there was no way to retrieve and discount his ballot.