09032003 - News Article - Schererville judge race ruling expected Friday - Recount battle between incumbent and challenger hinges on absentee ballots - ROBERT CANTRELL

Schererville judge race ruling expected Friday
Recount battle between incumbent and challenger hinges on absentee ballots
NWI Times
Sep 3, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/local/schererville-judge-race-ruling-expected-friday/article_436d3db6-ba8d-54f3-a843-dccd325c4cbd.html
CROWN POINT -- Those challenging the May 6 primary election of Schererville Town Judge Deborah Riga state in a court document they found solid evidence to throw out 23 questionable votes and give the victory to Kenneth Anderson.

Lawyers for Anderson filed a 26-page brief in which they argue Riga benefited from a pattern of vote fraud by Democratic campaign workers.

They allege "a predatory pattern exercised by a Schererville Riga supporter known as Bosko Grkinich ... inducing voters that were first-time voters or otherwise less informed or lacking in knowledge of the voting process, the infirm and those with limited skills in the English language to engage in absentee voting."

They allege Grkinich violated election laws designed to protect the integrity of an election by ensuring votes are cast only by residents (excepting military personnel and others living overseas) and that mail-in absentee ballots are only handled by voters, their immediate relatives and authorized, postal and election workers.

Grkinich took the Fifth Amendment last month on the advice of criminal defense lawyer Kevin Milner on grounds his answers might incriminate him. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter has impaneled a special grand jury to look into vote fraud in Schererville, East Chicago and other sections of the county.

Anderson is contesting the election on those and alleging other arguments. Riga has denied any wrongdoing, and her attorneys are expected to file their defense before a ruling expected Friday by Lake Juvenile Court Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura, who heard testimony last month from 22 witnesses.

Riga couldn't be reached Tuesday for comment. Merrillville lawyer Nick Thiros, one of her attorneys, referred all comment to Merrillville lawyer Robert Vann, who couldn't be reached for comment. They argued last month none of the voters in question was tricked or forced into voting for Riga.

Anderson demanded a recount after losing to Riga by 11 ballots. Anderson alleges he got a majority of votes cast in person at the polls, but Riga's victory margin came from a wave of absentee ballots cast before the election, including 23 votes alone from Precinct 10, an area heavily populated by ethnic Serbians where Grkinich is Democratic committeeman.

Anderson's lawyers allege the following:
Three absentee votes cast for Riga by Dusanka Drljaca and her parents Lazar and Sena Drljaca of Norridge, Ill., are illegal because none of the three had lived in Schererville for more than a year before the May 6 primary. They testified they hadn't seen and didn't sign ballots allegedly cast from their previous address in Schererville.

Rada Lakich and Mike Lakich of 1712 Selo Drive, Schererville, testified they didn't vote in the election, but someone forged their signatures on absentee ballots and ballot applications in their names. Jovanka Lakich, of the same address, said Grkinich brought her ballot, filled out in advance, to her home and she signed it in his presence and that she never mailed it to county election officials.

Steven Lazich testified he didn't vote in the primary and that signatures on an absentee ballot and application in his name were forged.

Anderson's law team alleges other votes are invalid because of forged signatures (sometimes signed by voters' spouses), the voters weren't absent or unable to vote at the polls on election, and Grkinich illegally possessed absentee ballots, sometimes filled out in advance, and illegally possessed voting documents he brought to voters' homes.

They allege these are criminal violations punishable under state law by up to three years in prison.

They also cite a decision last month by Special Lake Superior Court Judge Steven King who threw out 155 contested votes in the East Chicago mayoral race on evidence of similar violations.