From the Chicago Tribune

Feds join Ind. vote fraud probe
The Associated Press
Published January 22, 2004

LOWELL, Ind. -- Federal, state and Lake County, Ind., authorities said
Thursday they were joining forces to investigate allegations of voter fraud
involving absentee ballots during last year's municipal elections.
A joint special task force that includes investigators from the three
agencies will take over the state grand jury investigation into voter fraud
that the state attorney general's office and Lake County prosecutor's office
had been handling.
"We all have the interest of serving justice by rooting out fraud in Lake
County,'' said a statement issued by U.S. Atty. Joseph Van Bokkelen,
Attorney General Steve Carter and Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter.
"The U.S. attorney's office is the appropriate venue to continue this
investigation while continuing to keep state prosecutors involved in its
activities,'' the statement said. "We are confident that joining resources
is the most effective measure we can take.''
Four months ago, a Lake County grand jury began investigating the May
primary in East Chicago.
George Pabey, who lost the Democratic nomination for mayor by 278 votes,
claims he would have won if not for hundreds of fraudulent absentee votes
cast for Robert Pastrick, who won re-election to his ninth term in the
heavily Democratic city.
The county grand jury in November indicted an East Chicago city employee on
six counts of ballot fraud and three counts of attempted obstruction of
justice.
Two Hobart residents were charged with knowingly voting in a precinct where
they didn't live and later lying to the grand jury about it, while an East
Chicago man was accused of failing to appear before the grand jury.
Schererville Town Court Judge Kenneth Anderson agreed this month, a day
after he was sworn into office, to suspend court operations while
allegations of vote fraud in the campaign for that position were
investigated.
Anderson defeated incumbent Judge Deborah Riga at the polls by 80 votes in
May's Democratic primary election, but then lost by 11 votes after absentee
ballots were counted.
A judge later disqualified 23 absentee ballots cast for Riga and declared
Anderson the winner.
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune
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