John Tuohy

john.tuohy@indystar.com

As Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump repeats his message that the general election process is "rigged," the top election official in the home state of his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said she has found thousands more incidents of what she characterized as potential "voter fraud."

Republican Secretary of State Connie Lawson said her office has found voter registration forms containing first names and birth dates different from what voters provided. She said she has handed those altered records over to the Indiana State Police for review.

However, a leading election official in Hamilton County, also a Republican, said labeling the discrepancies as fraud was a hasty conclusion.

County officials report no widespread issues with voter records

Lawson's allegations also come just one week after a Tippecanoe County election official acknowledged that the secretary of state's voter data system could be manipulated by those wishing to cause harm.

County officials report no widespread issues with voter records

Lawson said the discrepancies were discovered when voters checked online with the Statewide Voter Registration System to see whether they were registered and could not gain access because their names or birth dates had been changed.

“These records were changed on paper forms, at the BMV and online,” Lawson said in a news release.

“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 statement. "We believe this may be a case of voter fraud."

Though Lawson said thousands of tampered forms were discovered, neither office spokeswoman Valerie Warycha nor State Police would reveal precisely how many. Warycha said a number of registration forms each election are changed by voters themselves to provide updated information. In addition, government employees make a certain number of data entry errors. But she said the number of changed registrations this year was much higher than in past elections, which led officials to believe fraud was being committed.

Lawson's office said it and county election offices have been inundated with calls from voters whose information had been changed. However, it would not disclose how many complaints have been received.

Bangert: An experiment in voter fraud

In Hamilton County, Republican elections administrator Kathy Richardson said she had not received any complaints and said she was miffed how Lawson concluded so quickly that the alleged anomalies might be fraud.

"I don't know how you distinguish between people purposely changing their information and those who didn't," Richardson said. "In an election like this, where everyone wants to vote, you are going to get a lot of changes. People change their first names or last names or change their addresses. Especially people who haven't voted in a while."

Registered voters who want to make changes can walk into their local elections office and ask for a new form to make the changes, Richardson said. They don't have to show any identification but must sign an affidavit that they are truthful.

They also can make changes online.

But that online voter registration system can be manipulated, as Tippecanoe County Clerk Christa Coffey acknowledged in a column last week by Lafayette Journal & Courier writer Dave Bangert.

Logging in to make registration changes requires only a voter’s driver’s license number. That information is contained in a copy of every county’s voter database, a public record already in the hands of political parties, campaigns, the media and others, Bangert reported.

The secretary of state’s office defended the system in an interview last week.

State Police raid Indy office in growing voter fraud case

“To my knowledge, I’ve not heard of anyone getting to do that in the online system,” Warycha said. “The driver’s license is the safeguard there, and we don’t have evidence that that isn’t working.”

She stressed Tuesday that the state voter registration system was not hacked, "as we have seen in some other states."

State Police also are investigating alleged fraud connected to the voter registration efforts of the group Patriot Majority USA. State Police officers raided the group's offices Oct. 4 and days later alleged fraud in 56 counties.

State Police Capt. Dave Bursten said the latest allegations could be linked to the earlier raid.

"What I can tell you at this moment is the changing of a first name and/or date of birth is consistent with what we are seeing on a number of voter registration applications submitted by PMUSA IVRP," he said in an email.

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.

On Tuesday, Varoga said Lawson was trying to blame others for mistakes in her own office.

Pence, ISP: Voter suppression allegations 'completely false'

"In 2014 Connie Lawson was publicly forced to admit that 1 in 8 voters in the Secretary of State's registration lists had inaccurate information," he said in an email. "Instead of fixing the problem, now she is blaming the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, online registration and others for her gross incompetence."

The state allegations of fraud come as Trump has made a "rigged" election a prominent allegation in his recent campaign speeches.

“The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media ... but also at many polling places,” Trump tweeted Sunday.

Pence also has raised concerns about voter fraud.

“Voter fraud cannot be tolerated by anyone in this nation because it disenfranchises Republicans, independents, Democrats, conservatives and liberals in America," Pence said in a speech Sunday.

Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics, said altering thousands of registration forms online and in the county offices would require a small army, he said.

"Coordinated voter fraud would be very complicated and labor intensive," he said. "I don't know how many people have that type of organization. And creating the false registration record is only part of it. Then you would have to get the fake people into the voting places to cast ballots."

Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.

Voters can check their registration status by going to the Indiana secretary of state's website. Voters who can't get access to check their status can still vote by showing their state-issued ID at their precinct on Election Day. Even if their birth date and first name are different from the information they provided, they will still be allowed to vote, officials said. Voters can correct their personal information by calling their county elections office. Voters with more questions can call the Hoosier Voter Hotline at (866) IN-1-VOTE.

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