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Indiana GOP goes after election fraud; 65 indictments in southern Indiana

Two weeks ago, we noted a Chicago Tribune story about fraud by either the Indiana Democratic Party or the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns in the 2008 Democratic Primary in Indiana. Now Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb is doing what I urge GOP chairman to do: document all the fraud that actually happens on the ground and the convictions that occur. I always like to point to the 32 convictions from the 2003 East Chicago Democratic Mayoral primary because the election was overturned, and we have testimony under oath of how the various sides try to cheat each other.  One example was sort of boring. In 2010, a Muncie city councilman who had been on the city council since 1987 was convicted of mishandling absentee ballots. But the tastiest was a new one.

Mike Marshall, who is running GOTV for the re-election of the Democratic mayor of Jeffersonville, right across the river from Louisville, just got indicted on 65 counts of absentee ballot fraud, along with his son and another guy. Now it wasn’t on behalf of the Democratic mayor. Mr. Marshall was responsible for a huge chunk of campaign expenditures:

Marshall was one of several people that Galligan personally thanked during his victory speech on primary night in May. According to the latest campaign finance reports, filed Friday, Galligan’s campaign paid Marshall’s business, North Vernon-based At Your Service Co., more than $52,710.23 through the year  — almost a third of the campaign’s total expenditures.

“He was in charge of getting out the vote,” Galligan said. When asked to elaborate on what those duties entailed, he referred questions to campaign manager Phil McCauley.

Get out the vote, eh? Well, it turned out that they knew about one allegation of the vote being gotten out improperly.

Republicans in Jennings County challenged several absentee ballots that were submitted in 2010, according to Negangard. Democrats subsequently ran an advertisement in the North Vernon Plain Dealer accusing the Republicans of trying to deny those absentee voters their constitutional rights. One of those voters identified in the ad was a Marine named Ben Cook, who later signed a sworn affidavit stating he’d never cast a ballot. That initiated the larger investigation.

It looked like the Dems improperly voted a Marine, depriving him of his rights. And once they investigated, they found enough material to indict on another 64 charges. Sounds more like a modus operandi than an isolated incident.

H/T Rick Hasen

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COMMENTS

  • beric

    But how many more cases got through unnoticed.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    this sort of house cleaning needs to be done every time republicans gain a majority in a state.

  • johnt

    Don’t they realize that this is a birthright of so called liberalism, that they are expected to roll over and go back to sleep, that they will be accused of Hate, worse, Racism? What have we come to when Democrats can’t steal an election while screaming about voter ID as vote suppression? This will make poor Obama nervous about 2012.
    Actually I’d say we’re making progress.

    • edintexas

      I thought the “Progressives” had trademarked that term. Seriously, you are correct, except for the possibility of Dear Leader being made nervous about 2012. I think he was nervous before the indictments were handed down.

  • npaul

    This is hypocrisy at its worst. How can the Chicago Tribune report a story on election fraud in Indiana but they can’t discover it in their hometown?? Chicago elections have been notorious for decades for their fraud.

    I’m not saying it didn’t happen in Indiana, nor excusing it in Indiana. But the scale of fraud in Indiana politics pales in comparison to what has happened for at least a hundred years in Chicago and Illinois.

    • morninginamerica

      Just try to get a Democrat prosecuted in Chicago for vote fraud.Do you want me to tell you about 1960?

      We have to go after the criminals where we can. That will build up enough cases for the public to take note and demand punishment.

  • tlhanger

    As a precinct chairman in Michigan, I always said fraud could be a big part of absentee ballots. When they send out a ballot, you can never be sure who actually votes it. I think a new way for our soldiers to vote has to be found to where they vote their bases and electronically be able to be counted on the day of the election.
    Same for others here in the states. Our little town was sending out hundreds of ballots and then some people came in on election day and tried to vote again. Except for soldiers, I think the practice needs to end.

  • ihateliberals

    Only the Military personnel and disabled people that are home bound and not able to travel to the polls as verified by a personnel care doctor. A person that is just out of town that day or overseas or somewhere else for work should not qualify. If they want to vote they need to be in town that day otherwise tough luck. also ballots should require that a thumb print be on the ballot as well as witnessed by a notary. I know this seems like an extreme measure but voter fraud robs me of my rights as a voter.

    • Doc Holliday

      basically you can vote anytime and well before the debates. The unions usually ship their members by bus, on the company’s time. I mean, the Democrat team can’t expect the downtrodden proletariat to vote on their own, that would be way too risky. Better to vote in a group with lots of union thugs around to help you vote right.

    • acat

      But to preserve the privacy of the ballot is also important.

      So… the notary notarizes what? A sealed, business-sized envelope that the voter indicates contains their ballot. The notary is, therefore, just certifying that (a) the voter is who he or she claims to be and (b) has custody of the envelope.

      Then, the envelope goes off to be opened and the ballot tabulated. The envelope stays with the ballot so there’s proof that it’s valid.

      There’s some chance of the envelope being used to trace the general vicinity of the voter, but that shouldn’t be enough to pierce anonymity… and surely there are sufficient notaries in the armed services…

      Mew

  • vrwc

    Thought I’d let everyone know that good overcame evil in this case of attempted fraud. The mayor of Jeffersonville was defeated tonight and being the class act that he is blamed it on his “enemies” coming together:

    http://newsandtribune.com/local/x57160823/Moore-elected-Jeffersonville-mayor?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

    Gotta love the big ones on this guy and good bye for hopefully the last time!