Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita is asking for an investigation into possible voter fraud in Lake County by the community group ACORN. (WSBT photo)
Story Created:
Oct 28, 2008 at 5:05 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Oct 28, 2008 at 5:34 PM EDT
LAKE COUNTY, Ind. — Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita submitted 100 hours worth of investigative work to the FBI and prosecutors requesting an investigation of the voter advocacy group ACORN.
Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter confirms there have been allegations of voter registration fraud in Lake County.
Rokita said 1,400 application submitted by ACORN violated Indiana election laws.
Long lines inside the County-City building are indicative of the growing popularity of early voting across the state, including Lake County, where hour-long waits are the norm.
Across the nation, the number of early voters has surged, and so have the problems.
"There have been a number of allegations about fraud in the registration process," said Carter.
Rokita has requested a criminal investigation in Lake County. He determined from 1,438 applications submitted by ACORN:
61 percent showed one or more indications of fraud or forgery
54 percent had no verifiable information
30 percent featured incorrect, incomplete or illegible information
"Unfortunately, Lake County has a history of vote fraud," said Carter. "It's very important that we have elections that are full of integrity and people believe that it's a fair process."
Rokita said despite claims from ACORN that it brought this matter to the attention of election officials, he indicated, "Clearly, ACORN representatives continued to submit applications they knew to be fraudulent to voter registration officials."
ACORN Midwest Representative Jeff Ordower issued a statement to WSBT News. "ACORN has been clear from the outset that we flagged for local election officials large numbers of problematic cards in Lake County," he said.
"If people don't have confidence in the electoral process, they're not going to have confidence in those people that hold office," said Carter.
"We were aggressive in bringing potentially problematic cards to the attention to local officials for the purpose of ensuring the integrity of the voter rolls," Ordower said. "Secretary Rokita seems to be aggressive only in his attempts to get press attention through his demonization of ACORN."
Ordower said ACORN can't say whether all 1,438 fraudulent voter registrations were flagged. He said "a significant majority" were flagged.
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