Published: October 11, 2007 11:19 am      

State Democratic chair blasts Rokita

Says voter-fraud accusations in Clark County were baseless, partisan

Secretary of State Todd Rokita owes Clark County an apology, according to Dan Parker, the Indiana Democratic Party Chairman.

The chairman stood on the steps of the City-County building Wednesday — the same place Rokita appeared last month — and accused the secretary of making fraudulent claims of voter fraud.

“The secretary of state of Indiana was down here on these steps just a few short weeks ago and made some outlandish allegations with no evidence to back up his case,” Parker said.

Rokita was given a chance to respond for this article, but declined to do so. He referred a reporter back to his Oct. 3 statement, in which he said he was disappointed that there would not be charges filed in the case.

The back and forth relates to the 2003 Democratic primary election. A Clark County man, whose name has not been released, gave sworn testimony to the Secretary of State’s Office, alleging that election law was violated using mail-in absentee ballots. The complainant, along with his wife and daughter, alleged they were solicited to vote absentee, shown a completed sample ballot and then had their ballots mailed in for them after they were completed.

Rokita got the information about the alleged voter fraud last year and turned it over to Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart, who took no action on it. Rokita came to town last month urging Stewart to act on the evidence forwarded to him. Stewart later held a press conference saying there was nothing to prosecute.

Then came Parker, who admitted to reporters Wednesday that he only heard about the case last month and has not seen the facts for himself — only hearing what the prosecutor has said about it. However, he said Rokita’s claims of voter fraud were nothing out of the ordinary and nothing more than grandstanding.

“This is typical for this secretary of state,” Parker said. “He comes into counties and he accuses people of voter fraud with no evidence at all.”

Asked for specific counties, Parker said he had claims of voter fraud in Lake County and Marion County. Parker admitted that there have been cases of voter fraud in Lake County, using absentee mail-in ballots.

He also said Clark’s voter-fraud allegations originally came from former Republican Party Chairman Glenn Murphy Jr. and that Rokita, a Republican, usually attacks Democratic Party strongholds.

Just a week ago, Stewart told reporters that charges would not be filed in the case, saying there was not enough evidence to prosecute. He also said the complainant in the case had a criminal record with felonies, and a history with the person he’s accusing of voter fraud. The name of the person accused of voter fraud was not released.