Keith Roysdon

kroysdon@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE, Ind. — More than 500 voter registration forms filed in Delaware County by a statewide registration group have been examined by police investigators.

Indiana State Police announced Tuesday that a multicounty probe of voter registrations submitted by an Indianapolis-based organization had been expanded to include Delaware County, and County Clerk Mike King confirmed to The Star Press that a State Police detective examined local registration forms on Friday.

The detective looked at the registration forms for "about 10 minutes" and didn't make copies. The forms are being processed along with other registration forms for the Nov. 8 election. Voter registration ends Oct. 11.

King said clerks were asked by State Police to contact them if they saw registrations turned in by the Indiana Voter Registration Project, an organization whose Indianapolis office was raided Tuesday morning by State Police.

"We got 530 from that group," King said. "We notified them."

The clerk said some of the forms didn't have complete information, something that is not uncommon for voter registration forms.

Delaware County is among the counties added to the investigation, according to the State Police news release issued just before noon Tuesday, but the immediate effect on the Nov. 8 election was unclear.

"An investigation of this nature is complex, time-consuming and is expected to continue for several more weeks or months," the State Police announcement said.

The investigation began in August in Hendricks and Marion counties and has expanded to Delaware County as well as Allen, Hamilton, Hancock, Johnson, Lake and Madison counties, the State Police said.

State police raid Indy office in growing voter-fraud case

The Star Press on Monday heard an unconfirmed report that up to 500 "suspect" voter registration applications had been submitted to the Delaware County clerk's office. That number turned out to be close to the actual number cited by King.

According to the State Police, a search warrant was issued for the Indianapolis offices of the Indiana Voter Registration Project. The affidavit and warrant are sealed for 30 days.

"A representative sample of voter registration applications received by county voter registration offices suspected of being fraudulent have been copied and provided to state police detectives," the State Police said. "In all cases the original applications are maintained by the appropriate voter registration office.

"The expanded number of counties leads investigators to believe the total of potentially fraudulent records may be in the hundreds, thus creating a potential to disenfranchise many voters."

Voters who are the victims of this scheme might not be aware of it until they go to vote, the State Police said.

The State Police said the applications contain "made up" names and addresses, real names with made up or incorrect addresses, and false dates of birth with real names as well as "combinations of all these examples."

The State Police recommended that voters go to indianavoters.in.gov to confirm proper registration. If voters believe their information has been compromised, they should call the State Police tip line at 888-603-3147.

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

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