Indiana Secretary of State Ruled Ineligible

[Rex Kickass]

In the next two weeks, there's going to be huge pressure for Charlie White to resign. Because this voter fraud case has HUGE implications for the Indiana Republican party.

 

http://www.indystar.com/article/20111223/N...xt|IndyStar.com

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White will remain in office until after the holidays.

 

A Marion County judge has halted the enforcement of a ruling issued Thursday that ordered White to be stripped of his title and his Democratic opponent, Vop Osili, to take over.

 

White notified the court today that he intends to appeal and asked Judge Louis Rosenberg to stay his ruling until a higher court hears the case.

 

In a new order issued today, Rosenberg scheduled a hearing on White’s request for next Thursday and stayed his ruling until then.

 

Charlie White used to live in Fishers, Indiana. He moved out of Fishers in 2009. Yet continued to serve on its city council until he took the oath of office as Secretary of State in January. It should be noted, that this is a violation of Indiana election law. And that the Secretary of State is responsible for elections in the state of Indiana.

 

It gets better. He voted in Fishers in the primary of 2010 for his campaign to be elected Secretary of State. This is voter fraud. He claims it was a mistake but also claims that he knowingly voted in his old precinct. Not only would this make him guilty of voter fraud, it would mean his general election ballot line was ineligible.

 

So the Democrats, seeing a valid case of voter fraud, actually went to court to pursue this. And this week, a Marion County judge has ruled that this ballot line was in fact ineligible. If this ruling stands, it could be disastrous for the Republican party, because the election of SoS determines so much in electoral politics in the state of Indiana.

 

For example, because the Republican line is essentially nullified in the 2010 SoS election with this ruling, the Republicans would no longer be considered a major party in the state of Indiana, despite holding every statewide office (except for SoS), because the definition of major party is done on the results of the SoS election. This would take effect through the 2014 election.

 

It would also significantly limit the number of signatures needed for a minor party to get a ballot line (because all those GOP voters will be considered nonvoting, since the ballot line was ineligible.) So to get on the ballot in a statewide election, it will just about be 14,000 signatures necessary.

 

Also, Republicans will lose control of the State Recount board and also a lot of the control of the election process that they already had. If White is found guilty before his ineligibility ruling stay is lifted, he will immediately be stripped of his office and their man Mitch could appoint another Republican. Otherwise, the electoral landscape in Indiana could look quite different in the next couple months.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

White needs to go. Then again the whole living in your district thing has been abused by many more than just White. Bayh did it, as well as Lugar. Then throw in the St Joe county electoral fraud during the Presidential election cycle.

[Balta1701]

This problem would clearly be solved by stronger voter ID laws.

[Texsox]

Here's my yes but. Would the voters in Indiana have elected him if they knew what he was doing? Seems to me they would have. I hope the court's decision is as close to the voter's intent as possible in this case. And the whole shifting of power based on one guy's guilt seems too harsh of a penalty.

[southsider2k5]

Here's my yes but. Would the voters in Indiana have elected him if they knew what he was doing? Seems to me they would have. I hope the court's decision is as close to the voter's intent as possible in this case. And the whole shifting of power based on one guy's guilt seems too harsh of a penalty.

 

Considering it is a state-wide office, I don't see how where he lived would have matter in terms of his electability.

[EvilMonkey]

Yeah, voter intent! If intent matters with a damn dimple in a chad, I guess it matters here. LOL

[Texsox]

As SS mentioned, it was a statewide election. My guess is the voters really didn't care which town he was from. I believe I am pretty consistent in this, not matter which party is involved. Did the person that the voters want get elected.

[bmags]

I agree, we should just make up the rules as we go along.

[Kyyle23]

Here's my yes but. Would the voters in Indiana have elected him if they knew what he was doing? Seems to me they would have. I hope the court's decision is as close to the voter's intent as possible in this case. And the whole shifting of power based on one guy's guilt seems too harsh of a penalty.

 

What is the point in having the laws if you can just say "well, they were going to vote him in anyways. Lets just ignore the multiple instances of voter fraud he has committed"?

 

Would we say "you know what, the US was going to vote in Obama anyways, who cares" if Obama's birth certificate surfaced and it showed he was born out of the united states? I sincerely doubt it.

 

All this guy had to do was vote in the correct precinct and stop serving on the city board out of his district. He knew what he was doing

[Balta1701]

So, there's something else going on in this story too.

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White's yearlong battle to stay in office has taken a turn for the weird.

 

Again.

 

Charlie White's father, Darrell White, is claiming that someone hacked his Facebook account on Thursday afternoon, shortly after a Marion County judge ruled that Charlie White was ineligible to hold office.

 

The perpetrator allegedly posted anti-Semitic comments targeted at the Marion Circuit Court judge on the case, Louis Rosenberg, who's Jewish and a Democrat.

 

The person who posted the comments also bashed Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker, who has led the challenge to Charlie White's election, and Vop Osili, the Democratic secretary of state candidate who will replace White, a Republican, if the judge's ruling sticks.

 

"I don't know where this monkey business is coming from, but it's not me," said Darrell White, who reported the incident to Westfield police Friday. "Somebody is trying to hurt the White family even more than it has been hurt before, and I really resent it."

 

The posts appeared on Darrell White's Facebook page and in a comment thread on an Indianapolis Star story in response to Rosenberg's ruling that Charlie White should lose his job because he was registered to vote in a precinct where he didn't live while he was campaigning for the office in 2010.

 

By Friday morning, the comments had been removed from Darrell White's Facebook page, but people had copied them and reposted them on other pages, and screen shots were sent to The Star.

 

Later that afternoon, the entire Facebook page was deleted.

 

Darrell White said he had a friend help him deactivate the account after Charlie White told him that people had seen the comments.

 

But Darrell White said Friday evening that he had not seen the comments. He also said he couldn't recall the last time he logged on to the social-networking site.

 

He couldn't explain why the comments were deleted several hours before the page was taken down.

 

"I don't even know how to use Facebook," he said.

 

The Westfield Police Department confirmed that Darrell White reported the incident around 4:50 p.m. Friday.

 

Officer Cameron Taylor, who responded to the call, said he wrote down Darrell White's story but didn't examine his computer or Facebook page. He said the report will be passed to one of the department's investigators for evaluation.

[bmags]

If you all treated this as harshly as you've treated the small # of voter fraud cases concerning poor minorities...you would pass laws trying to strip all indiana politicians of their right to vote (but more realistically, throw high barrier obstacles to affluent white people voting).

[Balta1701]

If you all treated this as harshly as you've treated the small # of voter fraud cases concerning poor minorities...you would pass laws trying to strip all indiana politicians of their right to vote (but more realistically, throw high barrier obstacles to affluent white people voting).

The irony of course is that Indiana recently implemented one of the harshest voter ID laws in the nation to keep poor people from voting.

[Texsox]

You are right, all he had to do was stop serving on a board and vote in the correct location. That is a very minor thing to do, almost of no consequence or inportance. Yet those two minor things may switch the political balance in Indiana and negate what the voter's want. All this over serving on a local board and voting out of his area. Neither of which has any consequence on him being in office. I agree the law must be followed, and when it is, not only will White suffer, but every voter who voted for a Republican majority in Indiana will be punished as well.

[Kyyle23]

You are right, all he had to do was stop serving on a board and vote in the correct location. That is a very minor thing to do, almost of no consequence or inportance. Yet those two minor things may switch the political balance in Indiana and negate what the voter's want. All this over serving on a local board and voting out of his area. Neither of which has any consequence on him being in office. I agree the law must be followed, and when it is, not only will White suffer, but every voter who voted for a Republican majority in Indiana will be punished as well.

 

Except for it being voter and election fraud, very minor. Do you really believe this guy just made a mistake?

[EvilMonkey]

The irony of course is that Indiana recently implemented one of the harshest voter ID laws in the nation to keep poor people from voting.

How exactly do these laws in general and in Indiana specifically keep poor people from voting. The same poor people that need a license to drive or an id to cash their welfare check at the currency exchange or to buy booze.

[bmags]

Yes...all poor people are alcoholics on welfare.

[StrangeSox]

Yes...all poor people are alcoholics on welfare.

Haha ha jesus christ.

 

Alpha, just google. I know I've posted stories somewhat recently of increased voting id laws being passed in conjunction with shutting down id-issuing facilities in poor communities. Hell, some politicians have been open about their desire to restrict voting access because poor and/or young people don't vote correctly.

[StrangeSox]

Yeah, voter intent! If intent matters with a damn dimple in a chad, I guess it matters here. LOL

Which mark they punched is a but different from deciding if they would change their vote based on new information.

[Texsox]

What he did was vote in an incorrect precint and served on a local board. He was eligible to vote, he just may have voted in a local election in which he was not eligible. He also prevented someone from the local area to serve on that board. How major do you consider that to be? I believe you used the phrase "all he needed to do" . . .

 

Should he be punished and removed from office? Yes. Should the power shift in Indiana at the level it may? No.

[EvilMonkey]

Haha ha jesus christ.

 

Alpha, just google. I know I've posted stories somewhat recently of increased voting id laws being passed in conjunction with shutting down id-issuing facilities in poor communities. Hell, some politicians have been open about their desire to restrict voting access because poor and/or young people don't vote correctly.

Those are two, or ever three, different things. How is showing an ID to vote restricting poor people's right to vote. Shutting down voting places in poorer neighborhoods is a different matter. And for all the Dems complaining about making it easy to vote, they sure shut the hell up when it comes to getting the votes from soldiers overseas in time.

[Texsox]

Dems shut up about getting soldiers votes? I am offended by that remark.

[StrangeSox]

Those are two, or ever three, different things. How is showing an ID to vote restricting poor people's right to vote. Shutting down voting places in poorer neighborhoods is a different matter. And for all the Dems complaining about making it easy to vote, they sure shut the hell up when it comes to getting the votes from soldiers overseas in time.

They shut down id-issuing facilities and make it more difficult for the poor to get id's. It also amounts to a poll tax.

[StrangeSox]

What he did was vote in an incorrect precint and served on a local board. He was eligible to vote, he just may have voted in a local election in which he was not eligible. He also prevented someone from the local area to serve on that board. How major do you consider that to be? I believe you used the phrase "all he needed to do" . . .

 

Should he be punished and removed from office? Yes. Should the power shift in Indiana at the level it may? No.

I agree with your last couple of sentences there. Seems to be a result of a quirk in the law and not intended consequences.

[Balta1701]

How exactly do these laws in general and in Indiana specifically keep poor people from voting. The same poor people that need a license to drive or an id to cash their welfare check at the currency exchange or to buy booze.

Actually, at least in Tennessee, the ID requirement for voting is much more stringent than the ID requirement for any of those other things. You can live your life with a state-issued ID that won't let you vote, and then voting requires realizing that your ID is longer good, producing documents that you might not have/might not realize you need, getting transportation to a DMV center (with no public transit options to get there), and going a couple times in order to get them to supply you with a free ID.

 

There's no state going out there and spending $100 million a year to go out and track down the people who don't have ID's and make sure that they get them.

[southsider2k5]

If you all treated this as harshly as you've treated the small # of voter fraud cases concerning poor minorities...you would pass laws trying to strip all indiana politicians of their right to vote (but more realistically, throw high barrier obstacles to affluent white people voting).

 

Which, ironically, Democrats are pretty much trying to do after crying about disenfranchisement, they are going to do exactly that to the majority of the state of Indiana if they have their way. But now its OK.