Indiana

Articles about voting issues in Indiana.

Low voter turnout might be due to new technology | WLFI

May 102012

It’s been a topic of discussion lately: low voter turnout for this year’s primaries. According to Tippecanoe County Clerk Christa Coffey, only 4,800 ballots were cast in early voting, which is only half the turnout from four years ago. Purdue Political Science Professor Jay McCann said there could be many reasons for the low turnout, but said one reason might be over looked: the new voting technology. ”Sometimes the election machinery, there’s a kind of double edgeness there,” said McCann. “On the one hand, it’s more efficient, we know who’s winning, there might be some better reliability to it than hand counting. On the other hand, it is technology for some voters and it can be a little off-putting.” Yet, several voters, like John Richardson, said the new technology didn’t scare them off. Read More »

Access to Marion County voter database triggers lawsuit | Indianapolis Star

Apr 142012

Three Marion County judicial candidates and two candidates for the Indiana House on Thursday sued the Marion County Election Board and the Board of Voter Registration for access to the county’s voter registration database. The complaint, filed in Marion Circuit Court, says the voter registration office unlawfully denied requests to access the database for their campaigns. The plaintiffs are running against their parties’ endorsed candidates in the May 8 primary. Read More »

Governor Picks Co-Author of Strict Voter ID for Secretary of State | ThinkProgress

Mar 212012

With the recent felony conviction of then-Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R), the task fell upon Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) to select a replacement for the chief elections officer of his state. Friday, he announced his pick: state Senator Connie Lawson. Lawson, who served in the state senate since 1996 and as clerk of the Hendricks County Circuit Court for seven years before that, was one of the two original authors of Senate Bill 483. That law, enacted in 2005 and upheld by a divided U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, was among the nation’s first laws mandating strict photo identification requirements for voters. Lawson’s concern about election integrity was also evident in another key vote — in 2010, she voted against the bill that made it legal for alcohol to be sold on election day in Indiana. Read More »

Gov. Mitch Daniels picks Connie Lawson as new Indiana Secretary of State | Indianapolis Star

Mar 172012

Connie Lawson, who has served in the state senate since 1996, is Indiana’s new secretary of state. Gov. Mitch Daniels named her as his pick to replace Charlie White this morning, and she was sworn-in by Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman in a brief ceremony in his Statehouse office. Daniels called Lawson — who has been Senate Republican floor leader, chairwoman of the Senate local government committee, a member of the elections committee and a former Hendricks County clerk — the “obvious” choice to take over as the state’s chief elections official. ”I don’t know when I’ve felt so good or confident about a decision as the appointment this morning of Senator Connie Lawson as Indiana’s new secretary of state. I doubt the state has ever been served by someone better prepared for her duties than Connie will be.” Read More »

Senator Lugar Can’t Vote in Indiana Precinct, Board Says | Businessweek

Mar 172012

Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana has been ruled ineligible to vote back home, a blow for the six- term Republican facing a Tea Party-backed primary challenger who says the senator is out of touch with his state. The Marion County Election Board voted 2-1 along party lines today, with two Democratic members finding Lugar and his wife ineligible to vote in his home precinct. Lugar, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is registered to vote with an Indianapolis address of a home he sold in 1977. He now lives in northern Virginia. The board ruled there is “substantial reason” to believe a non-criminal election violation occurred because the Lugars “abandoned” their Indiana residence, losing their right to vote there. Read More »

Charlie White eligible to run for office, Indiana Supreme Court rules | Indianapolis Star

Mar 162012

Download the decision here.

Former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was eligible to run for office, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled this morning. The state’s highest court issued a unanimous decision this morning saying that even though White was registered to vote at his ex-wife’s house when he ran for office, he could still be a candidate. The court’s decision will allow Gov. Mitch Daniels to appoint a permanent successor for White, who was removed from office last month after being convicted of six felony charges, including voter fraud. Daniels will not appoint someone today, his spokeswoman, Jane Jankowski, said. Daniels issued a statement this morning, thanking the Supreme Court for ruling on the matter quickly. ”Now that the duty to select a new Secretary of State is certain, we’ll do so with promptness,” Daniels said in the statement. Read More »

Indiana board rules Lugar ineligible to vote in home district | CNN

Mar 162012

An election commission in Indianapolis ruled Thursday that Sen. Richard Lugar is ineligible to vote in his former precinct, a blow to the Republican who has been battling residency questions amid a primary battle for reelection. The Marion County Election Board voted 2-1 against Lugar and his wife in a vote along party lines, according to Angie Nussmeyer, a spokesperson for the board. Democrats who voted against Lugar determined he no longer resided at the home address listed on his voter registration. Lugar has lived in McLean, Virginia since the sale of his Indianapolis home in 1977. Lugar’s campaign characterized the decision as an attempt to infringe upon Lugar’s right to vote. Read More »

Dick Lugar vows to appeal ruling | Politico.com

Mar 162012

For the moment, Dick Lugar can’t even vote to save himself. A local election board ruled Thursday that the six-term senator has abandoned his Indiana home and cannot cast a ballot in the state he represents. The Indiana Republican is up for re-election this year and faces a conservative challenger in the state’s May 8 primary. “I don’t want to cast aspersions on anyone,” Lugar told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday, “but there has been a rather concerted campaign by self-appointed persons who believe this is the best way to settle the Indiana election.” The two-to-one party-line decision by the Marion County Election Board has important legal implications, but also resurrects the crippling narrative that Lugar is disconnected from Indiana, where he hasn’t owned a home in more than three decades. Read More »

State Supreme Court hears election challenge to Charlie White | The Indianapolis Star

Mar 012012

The Indiana Supreme Court raised several questions about voter registration laws during a hearing Wednesday to determine if Charlie White was eligible to run for secretary of state in 2010. But those questions might not be enough for the state’s highest court to order White’s removal from the office. The Indiana Supreme Court has never ousted an elected official because of an election challenge. Supreme Court justices typically defer to voters, said Joel Schumm, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. It seems likely they will do so in this case, Schumm said, especially since White’s voting issues were well-publicized before the election, and he won by a large margin anyway. If the Supreme Court rules against White, the Democrat who lost to him by more than 300,000 votes in November 2010 could take office. Read More »

Charlie White drama nears its end - Indiana's top court to rule on replacement | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 292012

An Indiana Supreme Court hearing today likely will determine who will become Indiana’s next secretary of state. The state’s highest court will hear arguments over former Secretary of State Charlie White’s eligibility to be a candidate in the 2010 race. The court’s opinion, which could come soon after the hearing, is expected to end a 14-month legal battle over whether the office will remain in Republican hands or fall under Democratic control. It’s difficult to predict which side will win, especially because of conflicting opinions so far, said David Orentlicher, a constitutional law professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and a former Democratic state representative. ”There’s certainly a lot of twists and turns to this,” he said. Read More »

Ex-Secretary of State Charlie White 'elated' about sentencing | wane.com

Feb 282012

Indiana’s ex-Secretary of State Charlie White said Friday he was elated to learn his sentence of home detention. “After last night we felt a stone has been lifted off our chest. Most important is spending time with my wife, my son and step children. We were elated,” said White. Despite losing his job as a result of his conviction, potentially losing his law license and being bared from voting, White said he feels blessed. Read More »

Recount puts Santorum on Indiana primary ballot | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 252012

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum can count on being on Indiana’s May 8 primary election ballot, thanks to a recount of his petition signatures in Marion County. The original tally showed he fell eight signatures short in the 7th Congressional District, which is entirely in Marion County. Candidates must collect the signatures of 500 registered voters in each of the nine congressional districts to be on the ballot. Santorum’s campaign said it thought he had turned in hundreds more than necessary, including in the 7th District. Read More »

Charlie White sentenced to one year on home detention | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 242012

A Hamilton County judge today sentenced former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White to one year of home detention. White was convicted of voter fraud and other felonies for casting a ballot in a district in which he no longer lived during the May 2010 primary. White received one year for each of six convictions, to be served concurrently. He also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine. Before announcing the sentence, Judge Steve Nation said he considered White’s actions intentional. “Because of what he did, I believe he violated the trust of the people,” Nation said. Read More »

Outburst could hurt Charlie White at his sentencing | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 242012

Charlie White’s words might come back to haunt him today at his sentencing hearing on six felony convictions. Indiana’s former secretary of state blasted a Hamilton County jury’s decision to convict him of theft and multiple counts of perjury and voter fraud in an interview with Fox News on Feb. 5, just one day after the jury returned its verdict. Special Prosecutor Dan Sigler said Wednesday he will argue that White’s comments should weigh against him. White plans to give a statement during the sentencing hearing, but his attorney, former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, said he’s not sure what White will say. Read More »

White faces sentencing after being convicted of voter fraud, other crimes | The Washington Post

Feb 242012

Indiana’s ousted top elections official faced a final shot at regaining his office Thursday when his attorney planned to ask a judge to reduce each of his six felony convictions to misdemeanors. Secretary of State Charlie White was scheduled to be sentenced on voter fraud, perjury, theft and other charges Thursday afternoon by Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation. Defense attorney Carl Brizzi said he would ask that each of the charges be reduced to misdemeanors so White could hold onto his job, but one legal expert said Nation is likely to reject that request. Read More »

Indiana Board to Consider Tea Party Questions on Lugar Residency | Businessweek

Feb 232012

The Indiana Election Commission is being asked to determine whether U.S. Senator Richard Lugar is a resident of the state and deserving of a place on this year’s ballot. The Tea Party-backed challenge gives Democrats a new avenue of attack in a race in which their candidate starts out with a financial disadvantage against the six-term Republican. “Whether or not it’s legal, it’s not right,” Ben Ray, a spokesman for the Indiana Democratic Party, said in a telephone interview, referring to Lugar’s residency status. If Lugar survives the primary, he would face Democratic U.S. Representative Joe Donnelly, who has been making a point on his campaign kickoff tour of telling voters that he works in Washington, then spends most weekends in Indiana. Read More »

Charlie White cries foul on residency, cites other cases | Evansville Courier & Press

Feb 202012

Charlie White was ousted as Indiana’s top elections official after a jury found he registered to vote somewhere he didn’t live. But White says if he’s guilty, so are a number of other high-profile Indiana politicians — including former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, longtime Republican Sen. Richard Lugar and Republican Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. A tea party group that is challenging Lugar’s bid for a seventh Senate term seems to think White has a point and is seeking to have his candidacy disqualified because he doesn’t have a home in Indiana. But state law, political scientists and a 30-year-old opinion by the state’s attorney general all say White’s circumstances are different from the others, and treated differently under Indiana law. Read More »

Election Commission, led by Romney state co-chair, to decide Santorum’s ballot fate | The Daily Caller

Feb 162012

Dan Dumezich, a Scherville, Indiana lawyer–lobbyist who chairs the Hoosier State presidential campaign organization of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, also chairs the election board that will decide whether former Senator Rick Santorum will appear on the state’s May primary ballot. “I can be impartial,” Dumezich told the Indianapolis Star on Monday. “It doesn’t present a problem for me. Of course, if someone wants to argue [that he should step aside] I’d listen to it.” Read More »

Romney Indiana co-chair could decide Santorum fate | Post-Tribune

Feb 142012

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney’s Indiana co-chairman could decide whether opponent Rick Santorum makes it onto the state’s May primary ballot. Dan Dumezich is guiding Romney’s effort to win Indiana. He also chairs the Indiana Election Commission, which considers challenges to candidates’ ballot access. Santorum is eight signatures shy of the 500 needed from Indiana’s 7th District. Read More »

Courting controversy - Indiana judges to have a say in range of policy matters | The Journal Gazette

Feb 132012

Courts have always played a major role in painting political landscapes, but the importance of the judiciary in determining public policy – and thereby influencing politics – seems particularly intense now. The Indiana Supreme Court recently intervened in no less than three cases, determining they are so important that the public is best served by the state’s top court bypassing the regular appeals process to expedite a final decision. Read More »

High court takes over Secretary of State dispute | RealClearPolitics

Feb 092012

The state’s highest court set a Feb. 29 hearing for arguments over whether Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels should be allowed to appoint a replacement for White or Democratic candidate Vop Osili should take over the office. The Supreme Court also denied without comment a request that lawyers for the state Democratic Party made Monday to the state appeals court that it enforce a Marion County judge’s December decision in a civil case ordering the state recount commission to declare Osili as the election winner. That action followed a Hamilton County jury’s verdict over the weekend convicting White of six felony criminal charges, including voter fraud for lying about his residence by using his ex-wife’s Fishers address on voter registration forms. Democrats have maintained in the civil case that White wasn’t an eligible candidate for the 2010 election and that Osili was the eligible candidate who received the most votes. Read More »

Political sparring continues in Charlie White case | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 082012

In a day filled with developments in the Charlie White case, Indiana Democrats threw another punch in the fight for the secretary of state’s office. The Democrats filed a motion Monday asking the Indiana Court of Appeals to enforce a Marion County judge’s ruling that their candidate, Vop Osili, should become secretary of state. White was removed from office early Saturday when a jury convicted him of six felony charges, including voter fraud. A judge on Monday set his sentencing for Feb. 23. Jerry Bonnet, appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels to fill in, began his tenure as interim secretary of state Monday. It’s uncertain when the Court of Appeals will rule, but the Democrats’ request adds another wrinkle to the already complicated case of who should become secretary of state. Read More »

Supreme Court denies Democrats' request to allow Vop Osili to fill secretary of state job | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 082012

The Indiana Supreme Court agreed today to hear an appeal over the Democrats’ lawsuit regarding who should serve as Indiana’s secretary of state. The state’s highest court also denied Democrats’ request to put their candidate, Vop Osili, in office as soon as possible. Democrats want Osili to replace former secretary of state Charlie White, who was removed from office early Saturday morning when a jury convicted him of six felonies. Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Jerry Bonnet, White’s chief deputy, as interim secretary of state. Osili could still take office if the Supreme Court upholds a Marion County judge’s decision that White was ineligible to be a candidate because he was improperly registered to vote. The Supreme Court has set oral arguments for Feb. 29. Read More »

Democrats ask court to enforce ruling making Vop Osili Secretary of State | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 072012

The Indiana Democratic Party has asked the Indiana Court of Appeals to enforce a judge’s ruling that would make their candidate Secretary of State. Former Secretary of State Charlie White, a Republican, was removed from office early Saturday morning after a jury convicted him of six felonies. Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Jerry Bonnet, White’s chief deputy, as his interim replacement, but Democrats believe Vop Osili is White’s rightful successor, and they filed a motion this afternoon to try to get him in office. Read More »

Democrats hope to have their candidate in elections office next week | The Washington Post

Feb 062012

While Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels held off Saturday on appointing a permanent replacement for the state elections chief convicted early that morning of voter fraud, Democrats said they planned to move quickly to wrest control of the politically powerful office from the GOP. A jury from Hamilton County, just north of Indianapolis, deliberated for 13 hours before convicting Republican Secretary of State Charlie White on six felony charges. Among other things, White was accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms. Indiana law does not allow felons to hold statewide office, and Daniels quickly appointed White’s chief deputy, Jerry Bonnet, as interim secretary of state. But the governor said he was holding off on naming a permanent replacement because a judge could reduce the charge to a misdemeanor, allowing White to regain the office. Read More »

Jury finds Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White guilty on 6 of 7 felony charges | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 062012

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was convicted of six felonies early this morning, and consequently lost his job. But the Republican could get it back soon. White, 42, Fishers, plans to ask a judge to reduce his convictions – all class D felonies – to misdemeanors at sentencing. It’s uncertain whether that move would allow him to reclaim his job. “We don’t know the right answer to that,” White said. “This is all very new.” Shortly after White’s verdict was read, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced in a news release shortly before 3 a.m. that he has appointed Jerry Bonnet, White’s chief deputy, as interim secretary of state. Read More »

Politics around White's office 'a mess' | Journal and Courier

Feb 062012

Fifteen months have passed since the polls closed in Indiana’s last secretary of state election. But the battle over who should hold the office is far from being finished. There have been political challenges and a lawsuit; a criminal trial and a conviction but still no definitive result. Simply put, it’s “a mess,” said one political expert. Charlie White, the elected officer, was convicted of six felony charges, including voter fraud, early Saturday morning, which removed him from office. But he could be reinstated on a technicality. Meanwhile, Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed White’s chief deputy, Jerry Bonnet, as to be his interim replacement. Democrats, however, claim they’ve won the office because of a Marion County judge’s ruling that has not yet been enforced. Read More »

Voter Fraud Verdict 'a Travesty,' Says Convicted Indiana Secretary Of State | Fox News

Feb 062012

Calling the jury verdict, “a travesty,” Indiana’s former top elections official vows to appeal the decision that found him guilty of multiple counts of voter fraud, which has resulted in his temporary removal from office. Republican Secretary of State Charlie White was charged with illegally registering to vote at his ex-wife’s house and was convicted on six of seven felony voter related counts in the early hours Saturday morning by a Hamilton County jury in Noblesville, Ind., just north of Indianapolis. ”I found out that Indiana is a land of men and not of law,” White said in an exclusive Fox News interview on Sunday in which he contended that the jury was not given the full instructions on the charges by prosecutors. ”What I think happened yesterday was a total miscarriage of justice and a perversion. The law allows me to do everything I did and the jury did not get all the law.” Read More »

Indiana election chief found guilty of voter fraud | The Associated Press

Feb 042012

Indiana’s top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday, leaving in flux the fate of one of the state’s most powerful positions. Republican Secretary of State Charlie White has held on to his office for more than a year despite being accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms. A Hamilton County jury found White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud charge. White expressed no outward emotion as the verdict was read, and later said outside the courtroom: “‘I’m disappointed for my family and the people who supported me.” Read More »

Election official says Santorum doesn't qualify for Indiana ballot | CBS News

Feb 042012

Rick Santorum has failed to qualify for the May 8 Indiana presidential primary ballot, the Marion County voter registration office determined on Friday – a decision that Santorum’s campaign says it plans to challenge. ”We are very confident that we are gonna end up being on the ballot in Indiana,” campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley told National Journal/CBS News. “We submitted almost double the amount of required signatures, and more than anyone else. We are working with Secretary of State’s office and other state officials to ensure all of those signatures count.”

Bill putting all candidates on Indiana ballots gets 50-0 vote | pal-item.com

Feb 042012

The Senate voted 50-0 for Senate Bill 233. The bill has moved to the Indiana House and the House Committee on Elections and Apportionment had its first reading of the bill Tuesday. The new bill aims to reverse a ballot provision that was part of a comprehensive election law approved in 2011 that removed unopposed candidates’ names from city election ballots to save money. Last fall, city candidates in several cities, including Richmond, went to court over the omission of their names from the ballot. Read More »

White's fate could be decided Friday - prosecutor rushed from courthouse in ambulance | WISH-TV

Feb 032012

Special prosecutor Dan Sigler was taken from the Hamilton County Courthouse in an ambulance Friday, just minutes after delivering his closing arguments in the trial against Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White. Sigler left the courtroom quietly and summoned for his wife before being taken out on a gurney. There are still two remaining prosecutors on the state’s team so closing arguments will continue uninterrupted. White is charged with seven felony counts, including fraud, perjury and theft. If White is convicted of a single count, he faces removal from office and possible prison time. Special prosecutor DJ Sigler told the jury Charlie White knew what he was doing was wrong but he did it anyway in pursuit of political power. He told the jury the evidence “all fits together” Read More »

Cellphone records to be called in Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White's trial | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 032012

A Sprint representative could shed light today on where Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White lived while he campaigned for office in late 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say White’s cellphone records will show he lived in a townhouse with his then-fiancee — instead of in a home with his ex-wife, as he has claimed.Evidence on where White lived during that time could convince a Hamilton Superior Court jury as to his guilt or innocence on seven felony charges, including voter fraud and theft. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today. Read More »

Indiana election chief’s defense rests without presenting case against voter fraud charges | The Washington Post

Feb 032012

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White’s defense lawyer rested Thursday without presenting a case against voter fraud charges that could oust White from office. Closing arguments in the weeklong trial are set for Friday, when the case is expected to go to jurors in Hamilton County Superior Court. White is charged with seven felony counts, including fraud, perjury and theft. If White is convicted of a single count, he faces removal from office and possible prison time. Read More »

Prosecutors in Charlie White's trial say documents prove voter fraud | The Indianapolis Star

Feb 022012

Prosecutors delved into documents regarding Charlie White’s home loan and employment during his trial Tuesday to try to show that he lived in a townhome with his new wife when he claimed to be sharing a home with his ex-wife. They say they’ll also present records that show the Indiana secretary of state has lived at the townhome since late 2009. Confusion over White’s address from late 2009 through 2010 led a grand jury to indict him on seven felony charges, including theft and voter fraud, in March. If convicted of any of those charges, he’ll lose his elected position and face prison time. Read More »

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