◼ 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. - South Bend Tribune
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....
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....
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.
◼ True The Vote
UPDATE:
◼ Chairman of Local Indiana Democratic Party Resigns Amid Fake Signature Scandal - FOX
Both of Indiana's Republican and Democratic Party chairmen have called for a federal investigation into the forged names that appeared on petitions from the 2nd Congressional District, which contains St. Joseph County. Among the dozens of names so far discovered to be fake are former Indiana Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan.
Kernan told the South Bend Tribune last week that neither the print version of his name nor the signature that appear on the suspect document are anything like his own.
Yet, his and other names were approved by the county voter registration office with the use of a rubber stamp in place of a signature by the Republican member of the office.
The Tribune reported that the St. Joseph County voter registration office has a Democratic and Republican member who sign off on petition pages submitted for review. However, Republican Linda Silcott was out of the office on bereavement leave on the days the suspected fakes passed through her office.
Silcott's stamped signature is used on the suspect pages while Democrat Pam Brunette signed off on the petitions in her own hand. The Tribune reported that Silcott's deputy, Mary Carrol Ringler, has authority to use the stamp, but she does not recall if she did so, in part because the dates of the forged petitions coincide with her first two weeks in her post.
On Friday Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb submitted a request for a federal probe to be conducted by the Department of Justice.
◼ Ind. Dem quits in fake-signature flap - Politico
◼ Forgeries uncovered among 2008 Obama, Clinton campaign signatures - Indiana Daily Student
◼ Ex-Indiana governor: That's not my signature on Obama petition
◼ Another Shock Report: Without Forged Signatures, Obama Would Not Have Been On Indiana's Primary Ballot - Advance Indiana
