State probe: Clerk Rolfes questions petitions to put Dean Phillips on presidential ballot

SOUTH BEND — St. Joseph County Clerk Amy Rolfes said state police are investigating hundreds of potentially fraudulent petition signatures and addresses that her office received on Jan. 26 to put Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips on this year’s election ballot.

In a press conference Friday, Rolfes said she and her staff quickly noticed irregularities when one specific volunteer submitted 530 signatures on that day.

Rolfes said she couldn’t name who the volunteer is that submitted the petitions, nor whether the person lives in St. Joseph County.

The clerk said her staff started to notice that the signatures didn’t line up with the 10-year history of signatures for each person that’s recorded in the statewide voter registration system.

Jan. 21, 2024: $110K grant to help St. Joe County with security, speed in election process

Several of them appeared to have similar handwriting, Chief Deputy Clerk of Elections Trisha Carrico added.

Also, most of the addresses for the individuals don’t exist, Carrico said. There are street numbers that don't exist for actual streets. And there are street names and Zip codes that don’t exist, she said.

Out of the 530 combined signatures and addresses, Carrico said only 19 appeared to be valid.

By contrast, she said the clerk’s office did receive another batch of petitions to put Phillips' name on the ballot — from a separate volunteer — that proved to be valid.

On the same day that the questionable petitions came, Rolfes said, she alerted the Indiana Election Division and, per their instructions, contacted the Indiana State Police. She also alerted the Indiana Secretary of State.

Indiana State Police Sgt. Ted Bohner, of the Bremen post, said he expects it to be a "lengthy investigation," though he couldn't predict how long it would take. Nor could he tell whether it could be finished before Indiana's primary election in May.

“What we found is a cause for great concern,” Rolfes said. “Election or petition fraud will not be tolerated.”

Rolfes said this marks similarities to the 2013 convictions of forgery and petition fraud for former County Democratic Party Chairman Owen "Butch" Morgan. He was involved in a scheme to get Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton on the 2008 presidential primary election ballot. Morgan died in 2023.

“Election fraud is not a conspiracy theory in St. Joseph County,” she said. “It is real.”

Rolfes is Republican. Three Republican county council members attended Friday's press conference, along with some active members of the local Democratic party. None of them seemed aware of what Rolfes was going to announce at the press conference.

But, as it progressed, Democrat Mike McManus questioned Rolfes as to why she held a press conference when, he said, “You don’t know if this is coming from some prankster.”

Rolfes, who often cites her campaign pledge to ensure election process security, responded that this was a way of “empowering” voters.

“This one was so egregious,” she said.

McManus is a retired attorney who last year successfully sued the GOP-led county council for violating the state’s Open Door Law in their process of naming two Republicans to the Redevelopment Commission.

Later, McManus told The Tribune that he isn’t aware of a local push to get Phillips on the ballot.

Phillips is a U.S. representative from Minnesota who is making his bid to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president.

Rolfes said the Indiana State Police has already visited this week to begin investigating the petitions, though it’s unclear as to how long it will take. In response, she said the Secretary of State also sent a message to county clerks around the state to be on the alert.

Rolfes said she and her staff have received training through Ball State University on voting security issues. Among other things, they are trained on what to look for in signatures, such as how the letter “g” is formed. The statewide voter registration system includes signatures from when a person signs in to vote at an election poll and signs documents at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

The 53 pages of petitions in question, with 10 names on each sheet, are currently locked in the clerk’s office, Rolfes said.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: County Clerk says fake signatures addresses ballot petitions president