John Tuohy

The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — Election officials in Indiana said Tuesday that thousands of voter registration forms contained first names and birth dates different from what voters provided.

Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson characterized the changes as “voter fraud” and turned the office’s findings over to Indiana State Police, who are already investigating other cases of alleged fraud.

“These records were changed on paper forms, at the BMV and online,” Lawson said in a news release. She said when some voters checked online with the Statewide Voter Registration System to see if they were registered, they could not gain access. Further investigation revealed that was because their names or birth dates had been changed.

“At this time, my office is not sure why these records were changed, but we have evaluated the Statewide Voter Registration System and have found no indication it has been compromised,” Lawson said in the news release.

Ind. office raided in growing voter fraud case

Secretary of state spokeswoman Valerie Warycha would not reveal how many registration forms were allegedly tampered with, saying it was the subject of a police investigation. She said a number of registration forms are changed by voters themselves each election year and a given number of data entry errors are made by government workers. But the number of forms with conflicting information this year was much higher than past elections, which led officials to believe fraud was being committed.

Separately, the State Police are investigating alleged voter fraud connected to the voter registration efforts of the group Patriot Majority USA. Police raided the Patriot USA offices Oct. 6, contending fraud in 56 counties. The news release from Lawson did not indicate if officials believe the two investigations are related.

Craig Varoga, president of Patriot Majority USA, accused Gov. Mike Pence last week of using the State Police to suppress Indiana voters and violate their constitutional rights. And the group recently launched radio ads on black-oriented stations and placed ads in black newspapers across the state Saturday, accusing the governor and Republican vice presidential nominee of voter suppression.

Pence and state police denied the accusations.

Lawson said voters who voted in the primary election and can no longer find themselves on Indianavoters.com should contact local county election officials. Since the voter registration deadline has passed, only the county election offices may be able to assist voters to correct information in some instances.

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