Vote fraud investigation continues
Six people called before grand jury
NWI Times
Nov 14, 2003
nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/vote-fraud-investigation-continues/article_6ae65e7a-0d49-5633-ae24-694059270a19.html
CROWN POINT -- A special grand jury continued Thursday questioning people allegedly involved in an absentee vote fraud scandal in East Chicago.
Six people were called before a panel of county residents who have been hearing testimony for several weeks on whether supporters of Mayor Robert Pastrick skirted state election laws to obtain enough votes to win the Democratic primary last spring.
The grand jury's activities are secret, but Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter has made no secret of his interest in that mayoral race.
Pastrick needed a wave of absentee ballots to win the primary by 278 votes over East Chicago City Councilman George Pabey, who promptly demanded a recount.
Pabey's supporters uncovered a large number of absentee ballots for Pastrick that were improperly cast from addresses that were empty lots or vacant homes, by people living outside the city or who received improper assistance from Pastrick's campaign workers.
Special Lake Superior Court Judge Steven King, who presided over a three-week trial on the matter last summer, issued a 104-page opinion that the East Chicago Democratic mayoral primary may have been a textbook example of chicanery and threw out 155 votes, but that still left Pastrick with a 123-vote majority.
Pabey's allegations sparked a joint investigation by the Lake County prosecutor's office and the Indiana attorney general, which has resulted in the grand jury probe.
The grand jury also has heard testimony from more than two dozen Schererville residents with regard to the Schererville town judge race.
Judge Deborah Riga won the spring primary by 11 votes, but her nomination was reversed by a recount judge who disqualified 23 absentee ballots in her name and declared challenger Kenneth Anderson the winner.
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