4 Indiana Dems charged with election fraud in 2008
By Eric Shawn
Published April 02, 2012
FoxNews.com
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.
And you think that voter ID laws would have prevented this somehow?I thought this was interesting since we just argued on this board recently about voter ID cards and election fraud.
4 Indiana Dems Charged With Election Fraud In 2008 | Fox News
And you think that voter ID laws would have prevented this somehow?
How would that work?
The people who collected the signatures are accused of forgery, afaict.I am not so sure that this is a voter ID thing as mentioned by Grim. Don't they just get these signatures in the street?
I thought this was interesting since we just argued on this board recently about voter ID cards and election fraud.
Democrats want to win and run this country by hook or by crook.That is why we need to do everything possible to insure honest elections.
The sad thing is, there will be no outrage. This story will be mentioned and it will go away. Unfortunate.
Look at how long this took.... And this is common it seems. So commit fraud, get your guy elected, on the ballot or whatever, if you get caught its 2 or 3 years before anything hits the fan. Mission accomplished... Sure there may be a penalty down the road but so what?
Look at how long this took.... And this is common it seems. So commit fraud, get your guy elected, on the ballot or whatever, if you get caught its 2 or 3 years before anything hits the fan. Mission accomplished... Sure there may be a penalty down the road but so what?
Look at it this way, if and this is totally hypothetical, it was found that some fraud actually elected a President and it's now 3 years into his/her term - will any court or power on Earth throw that sitting President out of office? Hell no.... Which is why political fraud is totally worth it to the extremist nut jobs.
Where were they found guilty again?
No one has been convicted yet, and they may not be.
Imagine that.
Imagine that. Amazing how some are overreacting to something that hasn't even been proven fact yet.
Charges have been levied, that is newsworthy.
Amazing how some cant acknowledge that these people are wrong. But they are democrats so to some that means they can do no wrong.
Yes, charges have been levied, but guilt has not been determined. Don't let that stop your hyper partisan behavior though.
Nor yours.
I'm waiting for a verdict, how am I being hyper partisan?
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.
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.
There is a good deal of evidence:
Looks fairly solid as far as evidence goes. Comes down the handwriting analysis and Burkette's affadavits. Im betting there is a plea bargain in there for him somewhere. Good for law enforcement in that district cant be easy even charging political leaders in your own county or district.
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