08022003 - News Article - Town judge contest moves on - Trial on voter fraud allegations in Shererville set to start Wednesday - ROBERT CANTRELL

Town judge contest moves on
Trial on voter fraud allegations in Schererville set to start Wednesday
NWI Times
Aug 2, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/local/town-judge-contest-moves-on/article_18c5fb1c-3dc6-54a3-8814-ceadc7f04e2a.html
CROWN POINT -- The court challenge to Town Judge Deborah Riga's 11-vote win in Schererville's judge primary election will move forward next week despite numerous pleas from Riga to divert the coming hearings on voter fraud.

Lake Superior Court Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura rejected Riga's petition on Friday to stop the court challenge on the basis that fraud evidence should be heard in another venue.

Opponent Kenneth Anderson lost to Riga in May's Democratic primary. Since then he has been trying various legal challenges to overturn the vote count on the basis of voter fraud.

Anderson has pinpointed four cases of mail-in ballots being voted in the names of people not living in Schererville. Last week, he and his attorneys questioned nearly 30 absentee voters and people accused of vote stealing. Through those testimonies, Anderson's attorneys said they've identified at least four additional cases of clear voter fraud.

Anderson is hoping to convince Bonaventura during trial next week that an organized scheme to taint and strong arm mail-in ballots stole the election from him. Bonaventura could then order a new election in the town, or at least in the east side precinct where Anderson believes fraud was prevalent.

Riga's attorneys asked Bonaventura to throw out the case on Wednesday, or to at least hold off the trial until the state Supreme Court rules on her appeal. Bonaventura immediately shot down the idea of halting the trial and ruled Friday to move forward with it all together.

The trial will start Aug. 6.

Robert Vann, Riga's attorney, told Bonaventura on Wednesday that Anderson's fraud evidence had its day in court during an election panel recount in June. The panel voted 2-1 to uphold the votes, saying Anderson's proof of four illegal mail-in ballots did not prove pervasive fraud that threw the election.

Anderson's appeal to that vote is scheduled for Aug. 22 in front of Bonaventura. Anderson's attorneys said Wednesday the depositions taken last week will strengthen their case.

"We've discovered some things -- things that should be brought into the court of law," Anderson's attorney Richard Maroc told Bonaventura on Wednesday.

Riga's attempt to throw out the case Wednesday came two weeks after Bonaventura rejected her original petition to stop the court challenge. In that move, Vann argued that Anderson had missed a state mandated deadline to start the trial.

Riga also asked the state Supreme Court last week to force Bonaventura to stop the trail. The Supreme Court declined to, but her appeal is set to move forward at some point after Aug. 11, which is the deadline for Anderson to file his rebuttal.