Indiana Dem official quits after 2008 petitions questioned
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A northern Indiana county’s Democratic Party leader has resigned following a newspaper investigation that found hundreds of apparently forged signatures on petitions to place the party’s presidential candidates on the state’s 2008 primary ballot.
St. Joseph County Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan announced his resignation Monday night, denying any wrongdoing and saying he didn’t want to be a distraction leading into next month’s municipal elections, the South Bend Tribune reported.
“I regret having to resign and hope no one will misinterpret the reasons for my resignation,” Morgan said in a statement. “I have done nothing wrong and I look forward to an investigation that will exonerate me of any wrongdoing.”
Morgan had been the county Democratic chairman since 1995. He also resigned as the party’s 2nd congressional district chairman, a position that had put him on the state Democratic central committee.
State Republican Chairman Eric Holcomb last week requested that the U.S. Department of Justice carry out a federal investigation.
The Tribune first reported Oct. 9 that it and the Howey Politics Indiana newsletter had found pages from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton petitions with names and signatures that appear to have been copied by hand from a petition for a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful.
The newspaper has reported finding questionable signatures only among the St. Joseph County petitions. It reported Sunday that a handwriting expert had identified a Democratic Party volunteer as a person who likely signed at least some of the questionable signatures. The man’s attorney has denied that he had any involvement.
Indiana Democratic Chairman Dan Parker said he supported an investigation “to determine how this isolated incident occurred and hold anyone involved accountable.”
Holcomb challenged Parker’s characterization.
“While my counterpart continues to call this an `isolated’ incident, it is becoming clearer by the day there was nothing isolated about the forging and certifying of potentially hundreds of signatures in the 2008 Democratic primary,” Holcomb said.
St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Dvorak said Monday he is talking with the U.S. attorney for northern Indiana to decide who will lead an investigation.
Indiana law requires candidates for president, senator and governor to submit ballot petitions signed by at least 500 registered voters in each of the state’s nine congressional districts to qualify for the statewide primary ballot. Clinton narrowly won Indiana primary, but Obama won many delegates in his successful drive for the nomination. No such petition signatures are required for major parties to put their nominees on the general election ballot.
A director of the Indiana Election Division has said the agency isn’t certain what fallout might occur if the investigation shows either Clinton or Obama lacked the required signatures for a primary that happened more than three years ago.