Dubois County among 56 counties in expanding voter registration fraud investigation

• Indiana Voter Registration Project investigation expands from nine to 56 of Indiana’s 92 counties; registered voters are encouraged to confirm registration at https://indianavoters.in.gov.

The investigation that began in late August of 2016 alleging the filing of fraudulent voter application information has expanded from the nine counties to a total of 56 Indiana counties as of October 6, 2016.

Investigators released the extended list of counties being investigators to give voters time to confirm the accuracy of their voter information before the deadline for Indiana voters to register or update their voter registration information by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, October 11, 2016.

Indiana voters may check the accuracy of their voter information by visiting this site: https://indianavoters.in.gov.  Updates to voter registration information can also be made from the same site, up to the date of the deadline.  The Secretary of State Office is also available to assist voters on regular business days, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST, by calling 866-461-8683.

State officials are recommending all Indiana voters should confirm the accuracy of their voter registration information, but it is especially prudent for voters who live in the listed counties to verify their voter information.

At this point of the on-going investigation it is not possible to determine the number of registered voters that may have been negatively impacted by recent voter registration drive efforts.

The below list includes counties named in previous state police news releases:

Adams
Allen
Bartholomew
Benton
Blackford
Boone
Brown
Carroll
Cass
Clark
Clay
Clinton
Daviess
Dearborn
Decatur
DeKalb
Delaware
Dubois
Elkhart
Fayette
Floyd
Franklin
Fulton
Gibson
Grant
Greene
Hamilton
Hancock
Harrison
Hendricks
Henry
Howard
Huntington
Jefferson
Jackson
Jasper
Jay
Jefferson
Jennings
Johnson
Knox
Kosciusko
LaGrange
Lake
LaPorte
Lawrence
Madison
Marion
Marshall
Martin
Miami
Monroe
Montgomery
Morgan
Newton
Noble
Owen

The investigation that began in late August of 2016 alleging the filing of fraudulent voter application information expanded from the original involved counties of Hendricks and Marion to also include the counties of Allen, Delaware, Hamilton, Hancock, Johnson, Lake and Madison on October 4.

As part of the expanded investigation, state police detectives obtained a search warrant for the business offices of the Indiana Voter Registration Project, located at 2425 North Meridian Street, Suite A, in downtown Indianapolis. The search warrant was served mid-morning of Tuesday, October 4th.  The affidavit and search warrant are sealed for a period of 30 days from the time the warrant was granted, which was October 3, 2016.

An investigation of this nature is complex, time consuming and is expected to continue for several more weeks or months.

Important points related to this ongoing investigation include:

• In accordance with state law, all voter registration applications received by Indiana voter registration offices are processed according to established policies.
• A representative sample of voter registration applications received by county voter registration offices suspected of being fraudulent have been COPIED and provided to state police detectives.  In all cases the ORIGINAL applications are maintained by the appropriate voter registration office.
• The expanded number of counties involved leads investigators to believe the total of potentially fraudulent records may be in the hundreds, thus creating a potential to disenfranchise many voters.
• The possible fraudulent or false information is a combination of made up names and made up addresses, real names with made up or incorrect addresses and false dates of births with real names as well as combinations of all these examples.
• Victims of the activities by some agents of the Indiana Voter Registration Project may not discover they have been disenfranchised from voting until they go to vote and realize their voting information has been altered.  Such action may result in the citizen having to cast a provisional ballot.

There are simple steps people can take now, before the election, to protect their right to vote by ensuring they are properly registered.  Visit this site and follow the directions to confirm you are properly registered: https://indianavoters.in.gov

If after checking this source, a citizen discovers inaccurate information that indicates they could be a victim, they should contact their local voter registration office and the 24 hour Indiana State Police Voter Registration Application Fraud tip line of 888-603-3147.