08092003 - News Article - Lawmakers call for election cleanup - Dobis: Lake County can't 'sweep it under the carpet' - ROBERT CANTRELL

Lawmakers call for election cleanup
Dobis: Lake County can't 'sweep it under the carpet'
NWI Times
Aug 9, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/local/lawmakers-call-for-election-cleanup/article_127784af-affd-5a93-8702-e4e1b5f26b51.html
INDIANAPOLIS -- State Rep. Chet Dobis, the leader of a caucus of Northwest Indiana lawmakers, recently called for Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter to clean up "blatant vote fraud" in county elections.

In a letter to Carter dated Aug. 5, Dobis, D-Merrillville, said past vote fraud allegations "have been swept under the carpet." He called on Carter to stop this practice by prosecuting Bob "Bosko" Grkinich, who has been accused of organizing vote fraud in the Schererville town judge election.

"This can no longer be tolerated, because it just continues the bad reputation we in Lake County have across the state," Dobis wrote in the letter, obtained Friday by The Times.

"It is time for this to stop, and it is up to you to stop it."

Dobis offered to add teeth to absentee voting laws so that the penalties for "taking advantage of voters in the town of Schererville" become severe enough to deter further actions of fraud. Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point, also said current state election laws need to be beefed up to punish violators.

Brad King, director of the Indiana Election Division, said illegally receiving an absentee ballot from a voter is a class D felony punishable by a maximum of $10,000, three years in prison or both. That charge has been made in court challenges to the mayoral election in East Chicago and the town judge election in Schererville.

In one trial, challenger George Pabey hopes to overturn his loss to East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick after Pabey won at the polls by 199 votes, but lost by 278 votes after counting absentee ballots.

In the other trial, challenger Kenneth Anderson lost to Town Judge Deborah Riga by 11 votes after absentee vote counting.

Current law on absentee vote applications can lead to court debate over perjury charges, King said.

"It's a question of what the person is swearing to," King said. "Is it the item about why they need to vote absentee or more generally." The ballot requires the voter to swear that they reside in the precinct, at the address stated, and are a registered voter. King said state lawmakers could clarify by extending the sworn information to the whole form, and they could increase the penalties for existing offenses.

Cam Savage, spokesman for Secretary of State Todd Rokita, said Carter agreed to meet with Rokita and state police officials to assist with any vote fraud or witness tampering investigation.

"For the first time, they seem real interested in going after some of this," Savage said of Carter's office. "Todd feels very strongly that the only way to deter this is to put some people in jail." Carter's office could not be reached for comment Friday.

Dobis likewise called on Carter to "show the taxpayers in Lake County that things have changed." Dobis said those with enforcement power must stop election fraud.

"Northern-type politics have creeped into south county, and we need to put a stop to it now," Dobis said of Schererville's election. "This is so blatant we can no longer sweep it under the carpet."