07232003 - News Article - State Supreme Court denies Riga appeal - Legal maneuvers continue over Schererville town judge election - ROBERT CANTRELL

State Supreme Court denies Riga appeal
Legal maneuvers continue over Schererville town judge election
NWI Times
Jul 23, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/state-supreme-court-denies-riga-appeal/article_89291417-968e-51e4-8201-b82c6b9bbdfa.html
SCHERERVILLE -- Town Judge Deborah Riga turned to the Indiana Supreme Court on Tuesday to strike down opponent Kenneth Anderson's investigation into voter fraud in May's Democratic Primary.

But the Supreme Court told her to hold off.

Riga's attorney drove to Indianapolis on Tuesday morning to hand-deliver a fast-track appeal that also asked for the court to stop Anderson from interrogating some absentee voters and a local Democratic committeeman accused of voter fraud.

The court decided just hours later to let Anderson proceed, saying stopping the investigation wasn't imperative to Riga's appeal.

"I'm happy," Anderson said. "I'm thankful that the Supreme Court has allowed me to go forward."

Anderson lost May's primary by 11 votes. Riga lost at the polls, but came out on top with overwhelming support from mail-in ballots.

Anderson is now in the midst of an investigation into those ballots, particularly those from an east side precinct where he uncovered four illegal absentee ballots from voters who haven't lived in Schererville for years. Three of them live in Illinois.

An election board panel voted 2-1 in June to uphold the election results, saying the corruption wasn't rampant enough. But Lake Superior Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura decided to go forward with Anderson's election contest, granting him time to question voters and setting a court date for Aug. 6.

While Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard rejected Riga's petition, her appeal of Bonaventura's ruling remains.

So, if Anderson convinces the Lake County judge to order a new election because the first one was tainted, then Riga could argue the issue before the Supreme Court. Anderson has until Aug. 11 to rebut Riga's appeal.

Whoever wins the court battles essentially will be handed the keys to Schereville's courtroom, because the Republican Party has failed to field a candidate for November's general election.

For now, Anderson said he will go forward with about 30 depositions on Thursday. He has set up questioning for nearly all the absentee voters in the contested Novo Selo subdivision area. Bob "Bosko" Grkinich, a Democratic precinct committeeman, is also on the list for questioning.

Anderson believes Grkinich strong-armed absentee votes in the precinct. Twenty-four people voted absentee in that precinct, and 23 of those votes were for Riga. Grkinich, Riga and Riga's attorney Robert Vann could not be reached for comment Tuesday.