INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is just a week away from the May 7 primary election and six months from the November 5 general election.
Many people are concerned about voter fraud and just how secure the voting process really is.
Election fraud can mean many things including false registrations, duplicate voting, impersonation fraud at the polls, buying votes, fraudulent use of absentee ballots, and ballot petition fraud.
WRTV Investigates headed to the Marion County Clerk’s Office where hundreds of people have already cast their ballots during early voting.
A clerk’s office staffer who already voted demonstrated for WRTV what happens when he tries to vote a second time.
“I’m going to pull out my state issued identification,” said Dan Goldblatt, Director of Policy and Communication and Marion County Clerk’s Office.
A clerk’s office staffer who already voted demonstrates for WRTV what happens when he tries to vote a second time.
Once a poll worker scanned his driver’s license, an error message popped up indicating Goldblatt had already voted.
“So, there is no option to even print a ballot,” said Goldblatt.
It’s one of dozens of measures Marion County has in place to prevent against fraud.
“There is zero fraud," said Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell. “There is not."
WRTV Investigates asked Bell about whether they’ve had instances of people trying to vote under a deceased person’s name.
“Years ago we had a poll book and sometimes people would sign next to the wrong name and it might be a name of someone who is deceased,” said Sweeney Bell. "No, that's a myth."
The Marion County Board of Voters Registration works with the health department to keep an up-to-date list of voters who died.
“What we have is called a hopper in our statewide voter registration that shows us everyone that is deceased so that we can remove them from the voter roll,” said Alex Nyirendah , co-director of the Marion County Board of Voters Registration. “If someone tries to go across the hallway and vote, the poll book shows the individual is deceased.”
Nyirendah said he has not received complaints about voter fraud.
“We have not had any cases of any election fraud or fraudulently trying to register to vote,” said Nyirendah.
WRTV Investigates didn’t just take their word for it.
We checked with the Indiana Secretary of State, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Marion County prosecutor as well as online databases to ask about specific cases of election fraud.
While we did find election fraud criminal convictions over the last 10 years in other parts of our state (Clark, Dearborn, Vanderburgh, Sullivan, Vigo and Ohio Counties), WRTV Investigates had to go back 12 years to find any cases in Central Indiana.
In 2012, former Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White was removed from office after he was convicted of voter fraud, theft and perjury. He falsified his address on a voter registration form.
In 2017, WRTV reported Marion County prosecutors criminally charged a dozen employees with the Indiana Voter Registration Project for falsifying applications.
“They were expected to meet a quote for X number of registration applications,” said then-prosecutor Terry Curry.
WRTV Investigates looked through records and found of the dozen defendants, one case was dismissed completely and 9 defendants reached pretrial diversion agreements.
Valerie Franklin and Claude Nash pleaded guilty to perjury.
Nash was sentenced to one year of probation and Franklin received a 1 ½ years of probation, according to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
WRTV Investigates reached out to the state’s chief election officer, Secretary of State Diego Morales.
His office refused to provide someone to speak with WRTV on camera about election security.
"The Secretary of State’s office does not have statutory authority to investigate or prosecute election offenses," said Lindsey Eaton, Communications Director for the Indiana Secretary of State's Office, in an email to WRTV.
In a news release, Morales touted a new law (HEA 1264):
According to Morales, House Enrolled Act 1264:
- Provides tools for maintaining accurate and up-to-date voter registration lists.
- Requires proof of citizenship for individuals registering with temporary IDs.
- Requires documentation of residency for first-time voters.
- Eliminates loopholes for political groups private funding of local election administration.
If you’d like to see if your voter registration is still active, click here.
If you suspect election fraud, you can report it to your local county election officials or law enforcement.
Typically, the FBI or State Police would investigate and refer the case to a county or federal prosecutor.
