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> Fraud found in IN electoral petitions?
Southsider2k12
post Oct 10 2011, 02:12 PM
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Links to pictures of the differences in signatures are included at the story's link.

http://articles.southbendtribune.com/2011-...-primary-ballot

QUOTE
Clinton, Obama Indiana primary petitions tainted by forged signatures
October 08, 2011|By ERIN BLASKO & KEVIN ALLEN, South Bend Tribune Staff Writers, RYAN NEES, Howey Politics Indiana | By ERIN BLASKO & KEVIN ALLEN, South Bend Tribune Staff Writers, RYAN NEES, Howey Politics Indiana

SOUTH BEND -- The signatures of dozens, if not hundreds, of northern Indiana residents were faked on petitions used to place presidential candidates on the state primary ballot in 2008, The Tribune and Howey Politics Indiana have revealed in an investigation.
Several pages from petitions used to qualify Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the state's Democratic primary contain names and signatures that appear to have been copied by hand from a petition for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger. The petitions were filed with the Indiana Election Division after the St. Joseph County Voter Registration Office verified individuals' information on the documents.

St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak's name appears twice on the Clinton petitions. After The Tribune faxed one of the signatures to him, Dvorak identified that signature as his own and confirmed that he had signed the petition. Dvorak did not respond after a copy of the second signature on the same petition was faxed to him by The Tribune.

Spokeswoman Lora Bentley later said the prosecutor could no longer comment on the matter because it was now under investigation. Falsifying a ballot petition is a Class D felony in Indiana. According to Dale Simmons, co-legal counsel for the Elections Division, the statute of limitations for Class D felonies is five years.

'Terribly obvious'

The Tribune has talked with more than 30 people besides Dvorak whose names are on both the Clinton and Schellinger petitions. All but one of them have confirmed their purported signatures on the Clinton petition are not genuine.

Erich Speckin, a forensic document analyst, examined the petitions at the request of The Tribune and Howey Politics.

He said there is clear evidence, based on the consistency of the handwriting, that about 10 pages in the Obama petition were filled in by the same person, and another person apparently filled in nine pages. He said it's possible another two people filled in several more pages. Each page in the petition contains up to 10 signatures.

"It's obvious. It's just terribly obvious," Speckin said, pointing to one of the writer's idiosyncrasies repeated throughout the petition's pages.

Consequences

The full extent of the fakery, which appears to be limited to the state's 2nd Congressional District and specifically St. Joseph County, is not yet known. The situation, however, calls into question whether either Clinton or Obama, both of whom were U.S. senators at the time, should have been on the Indiana primary ballot.

Candidates for president, senator and governor must submit ballot petitions signed by at least 500 registered voters in each of Indiana's nine congressional districts to quality for the statewide ballot.

Clinton edged Obama by about 2 percentage points in the Indiana primary but lost the overall Democratic nomination. Obama, of course, went on to be elected president, defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in the general election.

County voter registration offices are responsible for verifying that those who sign the petitions are registered voters in that county. Staff in the offices check to make sure each signer's name, birth date and home address match the information on his or her voter registration card.

The chairs of the two major parties, Democrat and Republican, each appoint one member to serve on the two-member voter registration board in the county. They also appoint a first deputy and three staff members each to work in the voter registration office.

In St. Joseph County, certified petitions are stamped, initialed and signed by both members of the board -- Republican Linda Silcott and Democrat Pam Brunette, in the case of the Obama and Clinton petitions -- and then returned to the person who submitted the petition.

That person is then responsible for delivering the petition to the state Election Division by noon on the final day candidates can declare they're running for office. In 2008, that deadline was Feb. 18.

The front of the Clinton and Obama petitions bear a stamp and the initials "pb" for Brunette, whose signature appears on the back of the petitions beside Silcott's.

Brunette said she had not heard any complaints about invalid signatures on the 2008 presidential petitions. She said the office's employees typically wouldn't know if a signature had been forged unless someone else calls attention to it.

"We're not handwriting analysts," she told Howey Politics, "so our job is basically making sure that the papers are complete."
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bandaid19
post Oct 10 2011, 04:50 PM
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I find this article so bizarre, particularly the way they posted it on their website, and in the paper, as if it was some sort of current issue.

Yes, it's terrible, and fraudulent... many states have changed (and are facing litigation-- see FL) to stricter voter registration regulations.

I just am not sure what they hope the outcome to be here... do they want to expose the obvious individual that did this? (The handwriting is clearly all the same person.) Do they hope to impeach the president? Do they hope that Secretary Clinton will be removed from her appointed post? I'm just not sure what they're after.
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Southsider2k12
post Oct 14 2011, 07:19 AM
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http://www.southbendtribune.com/sbt-fake-s...,0,181597.story

QUOTE
SOUTH BEND - Minus suspected fakes, then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama likely fell short of the number of signatures needed to appear on the 2008 Indiana primary ballot, and it's possible his opponent, Hillary Clinton, did as well, according to information obtained by The Tribune as part of an investigation into suspected ballot petition fraud.

Trent Deckard, Democratic co-director of the state Election Division, in an e-mail Thursday told The Tribune Obama's 2008 petition for primary ballot placement in the state contained just 534 certified signatures in the 2nd Congressional District. Clinton's petition contained 704 certified signatures, he said.

Related
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Find out if your signature ended up on Clinton's petitions Find out if your signature ended up on Clinton's petitions
Suspicious petitions got a stamped signature Suspicious petitions got a stamped signature

Presidential candidates must collect at least 500 signatures in each of the state's nine congressional districts to appear on the statewide primary ballot in Indiana.

As reported Sunday, The Tribune, in conjunction with Howey Politics Indiana, has uncovered scores of fake signatures on both the Obama and Clinton petitions in the 2nd Congressional District and specifically St. Joseph County.

Dozens of people whose signatures appear on the Clinton petition have told The Tribune they did not sign the document, and Erich Speckin, a forensic document analyst hired by the paper and Howey Politics identified at least 19 suspected fake Obama petition pages.

Those Obama pages account for more than 100 signatures, meaning, minus the fakes, the former senator likely would not have qualified for ballot placement in the state.

Whether Clinton, a former senator and now secretary of state under Obama, would have qualified is harder to determine. The Tribune has identified 35 fake signatures on her petition in the district at this point.

That said, Speckin identified a number of suspected fake Clinton petition pages as well.

Clinton narrowly defeated Obama in the Indiana primary, and Obama won the state in his general election victory over John McCain.

Even if Obama had not been on the ballot in Indiana, it would not have changed the outcome of the primary election. The former senator and current president won the Democratic nomination for president despite losing to Clinton in Indiana.

There is no evidence Clinton or Obama knew about the fake signatures. Voter registration offices across the state certified both candidates' petitions, as did the Election Division.

No one challenged the petitions at the time.

Responding to the ballot question, state Republican Party Chair Eric Holcomb said in a statement Thursday: "I've consistently said Barack Obama earned his narrow victory in Indiana. If these new allegations are true, that's no longer the case. He wouldn't have visited the state 48 times and aired countless commercials because he wouldn't have even been on the primary ballot."

Holcomb, who has called on the Department of Justice to investigate the Clinton and Obama petitions, also responded to a report that the suspected fake Obama petition pages passed through the county voter registration office on days when the Republican member of the office was out.

"The evidence currently suggests this was clearly not a clerical error or simple oversight," Holcomb said. "Multiple crimes have been committed in a brazen violation of the public trust against the people of Indiana and our electoral process."

As reported by The Tribune on Wednesday, the pages in question bear the stamped signature of Republican Linda Silcott. That indicates Silcott, who missed a number of days of work in early 2008 because of the death of her husband, was out at the time the documents passed through the office.

"With this latest development that the Republican board member was not even present to confirm the validity of these fraudulent signatures, yet another set of questions is raised," Holcomb said.

"Were the forged forms purposely shepherded through the process knowing she was out of the office and approval would come easily? Where did the vetting process break down or was it meant to? ... What knowledge did the Obama and Clinton campaign teams have of the effort to collect fraudulent signatures?"

Holcomb also suggested St. Joseph County Prosecutor Mike Dvorak, whose office is looking into the Obama and Clinton petitions, "recuse himself from any investigation being conducted by his office."

"Believing Prosecutor Dvorak is a victim of this crime, it's essential to maintain complete impartiality in investigating this important case," he said. "Therefore he should step aside and cooperate with those assigned to the investigation."

Dvorak's name and signature appear twice on the Clinton petition. He told The Tribune one of the signatures is his but did not respond to a question about the validity of a second signature sent to him a few days later, saying the matter was now under investigation.

The state Democratic Party declined to comment on the ballot question Thursday. It did, however, question the Election Division's signature totals for Obama and Clinton in the 2nd District.

In an e-mail, the party provided to The Tribune an electronic file of a report released by the division a day before the deadline to file in 2008. The report, generated by a Statewide Voter Registration System petition module, indicates 580 total signatures for Obama in the 2nd District and 734 for Clinton.

In a previous statement, party Chair Dan Parker said he supported an investigation into the fake petition signatures but emphasized that, even without those signatures, both Clinton and Obama would have qualified for the ballot.

"Both had their signatures in well in advance of the deadline," he said. "Both had more than enough signatures. Both would have qualified. If you look at every petition, both would have had more than 500 signatures."

Even 580 Obama signatures, though, would not be enough to make up for more than 100 signatures the handwriting expert says were not legitimate. It will take further analysis to determine whether there are enough faked signatures to push Clinton's legitimate total below 500.

Would ’08 May ballot have been different?
Possible fake signatures may mean Obama didn’t actually qualify in Indiana
By ERIN BLASKO
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND - Minus suspected fakes, then Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama likely fell short of tahe number of signatures needed to appear on the 2008 Indiana primary ballot, and it’s possible his opponent, Hillary Clinton, did as well, according to information obtained by The Tribune as part of an investigation into suspected ballot petition fraud.

Trent Deckard, Democratic co-director of the state Election Division, in an e-mail Thursday told The Tribune Obama's 2008 petition for primary ballot placement in the state contained just 534 certified signatures in the 2nd Congressional District. Clinton's petition contained 704 certified signatures, he said.

Presidential candidates must collect at least 500 signatures in each of the state’s nine congressional districts to appear on the statewide primary ballot in Indiana.

As reported Sunday, The Tribune, in conjunction with Howey Politics Indiana, has uncovered scores of fake signatures on both the Obama and Clinton petitions in the 2nd Congressional District and specifically St. Joseph County.

Dozens of people whose signatures appear on the Clinton petition have told The Tribune they did not sign the document, and Erich Speckin, a forensic document analyst hired by the paper and Howey Politics identified at least 19 suspected fake Obama petition pages.

Those Obama pages account for more than 100 signatures, meaning, minus the fakes, the former senator likely would not have qualified for ballot placement in the state.

Whether Clinton, a former senator and now secretary of state under Obama, would have qualified is harder to determine. The Tribune has identified 35 fake signatures on her petition in the district at this point.

That said, Speckin identified a number of suspected fake Clinton petition pages as well.

Clinton narrowly defeated Obama in the Indiana primary, and Obama won the state in his general election victory over John McCain.

Even if Obama had not been on the ballot in Indiana, it would not have changed the outcome of the primary election. The former senator and current president won the Democratic nomination for president despite losing to Clinton in Indiana.

There is no evidence Clinton or Obama knew about the fake signatures. Voter registration offices across the state certified both candidates' petitions, as did the Election Division.

No one challenged the petitions at the time.

Responding to the ballot question, state Republican Party Chair Eric Holcomb said in a statement Thursday: "I've consistently said Barack Obama earned his narrow victory in Indiana. If these new allegations are true, that's no longer the case. He wouldn't have visited the state 48 times and aired countless commercials because he wouldn't have even been on the primary ballot."

Holcomb, who has called on the Department of Justice to investigate the Clinton and Obama petitions, also responded to a report that the suspected fake Obama petition pages passed through the county voter registration office on days when the Republican member of the office was out.

"The evidence currently suggests this was clearly not a clerical error or simple oversight," Holcomb said. "Multiple crimes have been committed in a brazen violation of the public trust against the people of Indiana and our electoral process."

As reported by The Tribune on Wednesday, the pages in question bear the stamped signature of Republican Linda Silcott. That indicates Silcott, who missed a number of days of work in early 2008 because of the death of her husband, was out at the time the documents passed through the office.

"With this latest development that the Republican board member was not even present to confirm the validity of these fraudulent signatures, yet another set of questions is raised," Holcomb said.

"Were the forged forms purposely shepherded through the process knowing she was out of the office and approval would come easily? Where did the vetting process break down or was it meant to? … What knowledge did the Obama and Clinton campaign teams have of the effort to collect fraudulent signatures?"

Holcomb also suggested St. Joseph County Prosecutor Mike Dvorak, whose office is looking into the Obama and Clinton petitions, "recuse himself from any investigation being conducted by his office."

"Believing Prosecutor Dvorak is a victim of this crime, it’s essential to maintain complete impartiality in investigating this important case," he said. "Therefore he should step aside and cooperate with those assigned to the investigation."

Dvorak’s name and signature appear twice on the Clinton petition. He told The Tribune one of the signatures is his but did not respond to a question about the validity of a second signature sent to him a few days later, saying the matter was now under investigation.

The state Democratic Party declined to comment on the ballot question Thursday. It did, however, question the Election Division's signature totals for Obama and Clinton in the 2nd District.

In an e-mail, the party provided to The Tribune an electronic file of a report released by the division a day before the deadline to file in 2008. The report, generated by a Statewide Voter Registration System petition module, indicates 580 total signatures for Obama in the 2nd District and 734 for Clinton.

In a previous statement, party Chair Dan Parker said he supported an investigation into the fake petition signatures but emphasized that, even without those signatures, both Clinton and Obama would have qualified for the ballot.

"Both had their signatures in well in advance of the deadline," he said. "Both had more than enough signatures. Both would have qualified. If you look at every petition, both would have had more than 500 signatures."

Even 580 Obama signatures, though, would not be enough to make up for more than 100 signatures the handwriting expert says were not legitimate. It will take further analysis to determine whether there are enough faked signatures to push Clinton’s legitimate total below 500.

Copyright © 2011, South Bend Tribune
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Southsider2k12
post Oct 17 2011, 06:14 PM
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http://www.wsbt.com/news/wsbt-breaking-but...0,4772099.story

QUOTE
Butch Morgan, Democratic chairman, considers leave of absence over ballot petition controversy


6:50 p.m. EDT, October 17, 2011
The chairman of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party is considering taking a leave of absence in the face of reports that hundreds of signatures were faked on petitions to qualify the party's presidential candidates for the 2008 Indiana primary.

Butch Morgan, the county's Democratic chairman since 1995, made the statement through his attorney Monday evening after the head of the Indiana Democratic Party issued a news release that said Morgan had resigned.

"As of this hour, no resignation letter has been submitted," Morgan's attorney, Shaw Friedman, wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune. "He is considering taking a leave of absence while this matter is under review, but there has been no resignation letter submitted."

Barack Obama In addition to his St. Joseph County post, Morgan has been the state Democratic Party's chairman for north-central Indiana's congressional district since 1991.

The Tribune and Howey Politics Indiana revealed Oct. 9 that hundreds of northern Indiana residents' signatures had been faked on multiple pages submitted from the 2nd Congressional District and specifically St. Joseph County as part of petitions to place then-Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the 2008 primary ballot.

Parker issued the following statement earlier Monday evening:

"The Indiana Democratic Party has been notified of Butch’s resignation. We continue to support the ongoing investigation to determine how this isolated incident occurred and hold anyone involved accountable.

"On a personal note, I have known Butch for nearly two decades, and I want to thank him for his longstanding commitment to the Democratic Party, its candidates, his community and our State."

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Southsider2k12
post Oct 19 2011, 07:36 AM
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/18...test=latestnews

QUOTE
Shocking election fraud allegations have stained a state's 2008 presidential primary - and it took a college student to uncover them.

"This fraud was obvious, far-reaching and appeared to be systemic," 22-year-old Ryan Nees told Fox News, referring to evidence he uncovered while researching electoral petitions from the 2008 Democratic Party primary in Indiana.

Nees’ investigation centered on the petitions that put then-senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the ballot. As many as 150 of the names and signatures, it is alleged, were faked. So many, in fact, that the numbers raise questions about whether Obama’s campaign had enough legitimate signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot.

"What seems to have happened is that a variety of people in northern Indiana knew that this fraud occurred, and actively participated and perpetuated the fraud, and did so on behalf of two presidential campaigns," according to Nees.

Prosecutors are now investigating. The scandal has already led to the sudden resignation Monday night of Butch Morgan, chairman of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party. He denied any wrongdoing, saying he looks “forward to an investigation that will exonerate me."

Nees, a junior at Yale University, served as an intern in the Obama White House last year and supports the president’s re-election. But as an intern at the non-partisan political newsletter Howey Politics Indiana, he delved into the Byzantine and complicated world of petition signatures and found reams of signatures that he says appeared to be written in the same handwriting, some apparently copied from previous petitions.

The names were subsequently submitted to Indiana election authorities as the signatures of legitimate voters. Nees and Brian Howey, the newsletter's publisher, then teamed up with the South Bend Tribune to break the story.

St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Dvorak announced Tuesday that the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Indiana will not be investigating these allegations. So Dvorak is doing so and has requested the assistance of the Indiana State Police.

In a statement, Dvorak said the U.S. attorney “does not investigate allegations of fraud in the submission of petitions by political parties for the placement of the names of candidates on the ballot for federal primary elections. They do, however, investigate fraud in voter registration, the actual voting process and in the tabulation of ballots.”

The state Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb had called for a federal investigation.

"We don't know the extent of the crime. We don't know how many people. We don't know if it was organized. Those were some of my questions. How deep does it go? Does it go to one county? Does it go to one district? Does it go to one state? Does it go to 49 other states?"

Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker also supports an investigation. He released a statement that said, in part, "We continue to fully support the investigation into this isolated incident in St. Joseph County. We want to know who committed this act, and we want that person held accountable."

Nees thinks the candidates did not have knowledge of the alleged forgeries, but he says such things can easily happen.

"This appears to have been the actions of the northern Indiana political machine that operated within the Indiana Democratic Party, not within the campaigns of either President Obama or Secretary of State Clinton," he said.

"What's important to me is that this sort of thing not occur in the future. This happened with impunity because no one thought that they would ever get caught, and in fact it was likely that no one would ever catch them because no structural safeguard existed to ensure that this wouldn't occur."

Howey, the publisher of the political newsletter, told Fox News he also plans to examine the petitions that put Sen. John McCain’s name on the Republican ballot. “It makes sense to look at the whole thing,” he said.

As Nees sat on a bench on the leafy downtown green in New Haven, Conn., with the imposing ivy and Gothic architecture of Yale behind him, he reflected on what he had found back home in his home state.

"Election fraud is particularly troublesome, because it undermines the integrity of our voting process and basically of our democracy. Maintaining the integrity of elections in the United States is an important thing."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/18...s#ixzz1bEbXrGhK
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Southsider2k12
post Oct 19 2011, 02:40 PM
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http://www.wsbt.com/news/-us-attorney-will...0,6050930.story

QUOTE
U.S. Attorney will not investigate Obama, Clinton petitions

By ERIN BLASKO South Bend Tribune Staff Writer

3:53 p.m. EDT, October 19, 2011

SOUTH BEND -- The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana will not investigate alleged fraud regarding the submission of petitions to place Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the 2008 Indiana primary ballot, according to a press release issued by the county prosecutor's office.

"My discussions with the U.S. Attorney ... as to whether their office would be able to complete this investigation were concluded today with the response that the U.S. Attorney does not investigate allegations of fraud in the submission of petitions," Prosecutor Michael Dvorak said in the release.

"They do, however, investigate fraud in voter registration, the actual voting process, and in the tabulation of ballots," he said.

The prosecutor's office has since asked Indiana State Police to assist in the investigation, according to the release, "and I expect the same support from the State Police as I have received in previous investigations of other matters where our office sought their assistance," Dvorak said.

The prosecutor's office began looking into the Obama and Clinton petitions earlier this month in response to an investigation by The Tribune and Howey Politics Indiana that uncovered hundreds of fake signatures on the two documents.

The Tribune has since linked Dustin Blythe, a Democrat appointed to the county voter registration office, to some of the fake signatures on the Obama petition. And on Monday, county Democratic party Chairman Butch Morgan resigned over the matter.

Falsifying information on a ballot petition is a Class D felony in Indiana, punishable by up to three years in prison.

Staff writer Erin Blasko:
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post Dec 14 2011, 12:27 PM
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http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll.../NEWS/111219996

QUOTE
Indiana lawmakers eye election reform in light of '08 presidential race forgery claims



By Tom LoBianco
of The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — A state lawmaker said this week he plans to introduce a bill that would change how signatures are gathered to put candidates on Indiana's ballot.

The proposal comes in response to allegations that dozens of signatures were forged in St. Joseph County to get then-Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the state's 2008 Democratic primary ballot. The St. Joseph's County prosecutor is investigating the allegations.

Rep. Kreg Battles, D-Vincennes, said his bill would require volunteers collecting signatures to affix their name in some way to petitions so they can be retraced. He also wants petitions stored for longer than the current two years they are kept, but he said he hasn't decided yet how long they should be kept.

“It's just to make sure we have integrity in the process,” Battles said.

Brad King, Republican co-director of Indiana Elections Division, said tracking petitions would be a “consistent expansion” of tracking that is already done by law on absentee ballots to prevent fraud. Storing paper copies of petitions wouldn't be very expensive, either, he said.

King's Democratic colleague running the division, Trent Deckard, said he would be open to any ideas pushed by the General Assembly. Lawmakers return to Indianapolis for their 2012 session Jan. 4.

Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb said Friday that any legislation should wait until an investigation of the 2008 petitions is complete.

“Let's not get ahead of ourselves,” Holcomb said in a statement. “The results of the ongoing investigation in St. Joseph County could help inform legislators about necessary reforms. Until then, our first priority should be to enforce laws already on the books, not write new ones.”
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post Apr 3 2012, 08:48 AM
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/02...-fraud-in-2008/

QUOTE
Felony charges related to election fraud have touched the 2008 race for the highest office in the land.

Prosecutors in South Bend, Ind., filed charges Monday against four St. Joseph County Democratic officials and deputies as part of a multiple-felony case involving the alleged forging of Democratic presidential primary petitions in the 2008 election, which put then-candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Indiana ballot.

The officials are accused of taking part in a scheme to fake signatures and names on the primary petitions needed to run for president. Court papers say the plan was hatched by local Democratic Party officials inside the local party headquarters.
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Among those charged is the former long-time chairman of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party, Butch Morgan, who allegedly ordered the forgeries. He was forced to resign when the allegations were first made public last October, even though his lawyer, Shaw Friedman, told Fox News at the time that Morgan did not do anything wrong.

The St. Joseph County Board of Voter Registration's Democratic board member, Pam Brunette, Board of Voter Registration worker Beverly Shelton and Democratic volunteer and former board worker Dustin Blythe also face charges.

According to affidavits, St. Joseph County Voter Registration Office worker Lucas Burkett told investigators that he was part of the plan that started in January 2008 "to forge signatures on presidential candidate petitions instead of collecting actual signatures from citizens."

The documents state that Burkett told investigators that “he was heavily involved in St. Joseph County political activities with the local Democratic party," and that "he had, in fact, personally forged several such signatures," and had attended meetings at the local Democratic party headquarters, where it was agreed to forge the petitions. Morgan, the County Democratic Chairman, allegedly "instructed Mr. Burkett, Pamela Brunette, Beverly Shelton, and Dustin Blythe to forge ballot petitions for presidential candidates," and that "all of them agreed to follow these instructions" by copying names and signatures from old election petitions.

According to affidavits, Burkett told investigators it was his job to "forge petitions for candidate Barack Obama," Shelton "was assigned to forge petitions for candidate Hillary Clinton" and Blythe "was assigned to forge petitions for candidate John Edwards." When Edwards dropped out of the race at the end of January 2008 and Burkett refused to continue the forgeries, Morgan allegedly ordered Blythe to then forge petitions for Barack Obama.

Indiana State Police investigators identified a total of 22 petitions that appeared to be faked, yet sailed through the Voter Registration Board as legitimate documents. The signature of the board's Republican supervisor, Linda Silcott, which is required for legal certification, appeared to be rubber stamped on the documents. She told investigators that she did not remember signing or authorizing her rubber stamp to be used.

Silcott also told investigators that she recognized the handwriting on the alleged forged Obama petitions as that of Blythe's.

The South Bend Tribune and independent political newsletter Howey Politics Indiana have reported that a handwriting analyst concluded last fall that Blythe's handwriting matched some of the alleged Obama fakes. When Fox News caught up to Blythe as he left the Voter Registration Board last November and asked him if he forged any signatures or faked any petitions, he repeatedly replied, "I don't have anything to say."

The case raises the possibility that the president's campaign and that of Clinton’s, could have been legally challenged in Indiana if the alleged forgeries were discovered during the race.

Under state law, presidential candidates need to qualify with 500 signatures from each of Indiana's nine congressional districts. Indiana elections officials say that in St. Joseph County, which is the 2nd Congressional District, the Obama campaign qualified with 534 signatures; Clinton's camp had 704.

But the signatures, which were certified by the elections board, were never challenged. If the number of legitimate signatures for Obama or Clinton fell below the legal requirement of 500, they could have been bounced from the state ballot. Reports have previously put the number of phony signatures for both candidates at about 150, but state investigators plucked names from the petitions at random and cited only 20 individual alleged forgeries as part of their case. They say their investigation of the petitions continues.

Multiple voters, including Indiana's former Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan, told Fox News that their names and signatures were phonies.

"That's not my signature," Charity Rorie told Fox News as she sat in her kitchen in Mishawaka, Ind.. The mother of four was stunned that her name and signature, and those of her husband, appeared on one of the Obama petitions. She said they "absolutely" were fakes and was troubled that personal details such as their address and birthdays were also included.

"It was shocking," she said. "Why did they do that, and where did they get it from?"

"I did not sign for Barack Obama," Democratic voter Robert Hunter told Fox News as he stared at the Obama petition that included his name and purported signature supporting the candidate. While he observed that the scrawl looked "very close" to his real one, it was not.

"I always put 'Junior' after my name, every time... there's no 'Junior' there," Hunter told us. "I don't like anybody using my name for anything other than myself."

"It's scary," Charity said. "A lot of people have already lost faith in politics and the realm of politics and that solidifies our worries and concerns."

As for Burkett, a 26-year-old lifelong Democrat, "he is the whistle-blower in this," his lawyer, Andrew B. Jones, told Fox News.

"Lucas really is the hero in this situation. He is someone who stood up for good government, and has cooperated with the state police and will continue to do so."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/02.../#ixzz1qzNNBUk2
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post Mar 28 2013, 08:19 AM
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http://www.wsbt.com/wsbt-former-registrati...0,7398800.story

QUOTE
WSBT-TV Report
9:54 a.m. EDT, March 28, 2013

Beverly Shelton has pleaded guilty to forgery, a Class C felony, and falsely making a petition, a Class D felony this morning
Butch Morgan, former chair of the county Democratic Party, and party members Shelton, Pam Brunette, and Dustin Blythe -- all former voter registration workers -- are accused of conspiring to forge ballot petition signatures.

Beverly’s guilty plea in Judge John Marnocha's court was part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The remaining three accused are set to go to trial.

Shelton’s sentencing is slated for May 9 at 10 a.m.
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Southsider2k12
post Apr 9 2013, 10:04 AM
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WSBT-TV
BREAKING NEWS: Former St. Joseph County Democrat voter registration worker Pam Brunette pleaded guilty this morning to forgery, falsely making a petition and official misconduct. But she didn't take a plea deal or agreement with prosecutor. She will likely be subpoenaed to testify against former County Dem Chair Butch Morgan and former voter registration worker Dustin Blythe at their trial on 4/22.
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Southsider2k12
post Apr 23 2013, 12:58 PM
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Trials are getting underway

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/22...test=latestnews
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Southsider2k12
post Apr 26 2013, 07:03 AM
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Guilty

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-reg...3f92515af3.html
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