Party official quits after faked petitions report

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — A northern Indiana county’s Democratic Party leader has resigned following a newspaper investigation that found perhaps hundreds of forged signatures on petitions to place the party’s candidates on the state’s 2008 primary ballot

St. Joseph County Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan tells the South Bend Tribune he has done nothing wrong but doesn’t want to be a distraction during the upcoming local elections.

Morgan announced his resignation Monday night, a little more than a week after the Tribune first reported that it and the Howey Politics Indiana newsletter had found pages from Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton petitions with names and signatures that were apparently faked.

The state Republican chairman has called for a federal investigation of the possibly forgeries.

Morgan had been the county Democratic chairman since 1995.