Republican Secretary Of State in Indiana Convicted Of Voter Fraud

Posted on by vlrock

BY JOSH ISRAEL

Though President Ronald Reagan called the right to vote the “crown jewel of American liberties,” many Republicans around the country have begun demanding increased voting restrictions in the name of fighting “voter fraud.” Though actual cases of voting fraud are so rare that a voter is much more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit fraud at the polls, one Republican official in Indiana has proved that lightning can strike himself.

Yesterday, a jury found Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R) guilty on six felony counts of voter fraud, theft, and perjury. The conviction cost White his job, though he plans to ask the judge to reduce the charges to misdemeanors and hopes to perhaps regain the position.

In a statement, Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) announced White’s deputy will take over on an interim basis:

I have chosen not to make a permanent appointment today out of respect for the judge’s authority to lessen the verdict to a misdemeanor and reinstate the elected office holder… If the felony convictions are not altered, I anticipate making a permanent appointment quickly.

But a second court case could ultimately give the job to Democrat Vop Osili, who lost to White in November 2010. A judge’s December 2011 ruling — currently on hold, pending appeal — held that due to the voter fraud charges, White’s election was invalid. Should that ruling survive the appeals process, Osili would assume the office.

Ironically, White’s now-removed 2010 campaign website listed election integrity as among his top concerns, and promised he would “protect and defend Indiana’s Voter ID law to ensure our elections are fair and protect the most basic and precious right and responsibility of our democracy-voting.”

NOTE:
In 2005, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed “the strictest voter ID requirements in the nation,” and Republicans said at the time that it was “needed to guard against voter fraud.”

This material [the article above] was created by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It was created for the Progress Report, the daily e-mail publication of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Click here to subscribe.

Editor’s Note:  The irony in this entire situation is that one of their own got caught and now, instead of being outraged and going after Mr. White, instead they want to downplay his heinous actions to mere misdemeanors, slap him on the hand, and put him back in the job that is responsible for policing such actions!  Had that been a Democratic Secretary of State committing such actions, they would be attempting to elevate his actions to the equivalent of treason and calling for his execution!

2 thoughts on “Republican Secretary Of State in Indiana Convicted Of Voter Fraud”

  1. “Though actual cases of voting fraud are so rare that a voter is much more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit fraud at the polls…” Seriously??? Can you please provide your source of data to support this ridiculous statement?

    1. Looks like I’ve picked up a right-wing troll when I posted this article. In-person voter fraud is infinitely rare. In fact, the likelihood of voter fraud is somewhere between 0.00004 and 0.00009 percent. The odds of being struck by lightning in the US = 1 in (310,000,000/280) = 1 in 1,107,143 = Approximately 1 in a million. Now if they want to talk about absentee voter fraud, which incidentally NO ONE is challenging nor are they demanding an ID for participation, after all, that just might finally turn active-duty military personnel who happen to be voting from friggin’ war zones against the RWNJs and toward a much saner candidates for office.

      So here’s a bunch of links to posts and studies clearly and loudly declaring voter fraud at the polls is highly unlikely and extremely rare (in fact, the only ones of late to be prosecuted and convicted are REPUBLICANS):

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