2008 Election Fraud With New Life?

By: James Raider

WSBT-TV Report WSBT-TV 9:29 p.m. EDT, June 17, 2013

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Nearly 5 years after it happened, and two years after it was uncovered, sentencing has been handed down for the former head of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party, Butch Morgan, former party worker Dustin Blythe, and two co-defendants.

Morgan, who had been the county’s Democratic chairman since 1995, was sentenced to one year in prison, one year in community corrections and two years probation.

Blythe was sentenced to one year in community correction and one year probation.

Beverly Shelton and Pam Brunette, who were associated with voter registration, pleaded guilty in an attempt to avoid jail-time.

They both received two years probation.

Morgan and Blythe were both found guilty of forging signatures on petitions for Indiana's primary election in 2008.

In April, a jury convicted Morgan on 4 counts and Blythe on 10 counts. Shelton and Brunette testified during their trial. The four were accused of conspiring to forge signatures on petitions to get Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on Indiana's 2008 primary ballot.

In 2011, our news partners at the South Bend Tribune reported that without the suspected fake signatures, it is likely Obama and possibly Clinton would not have had enough signatures to be on the state's primary ballot.

Indiana's chief election officer says she thinks the punishment matches the crime.

"It is particularly important this conviction includes jail time to send a clear message that election fraud will not be tolerated,” wrote Secretary of State Connie Lawson, after the sentencing.

“We’re just glad that it’s over,” said Jake Teshka, executive director of the Republican Party of St. Joseph County.

“There is some justice served here and certainly that gives us some comfort, however it’s always incumbent upon us as the loyal party of opposition and incumbent upon us as citizens to keep watch and make sure that these types of things don’t happen again,” he said.

State Senator and St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chairman John Broden earlier released a statement saying that the party has "taken many steps to ensure that an incident of this sort never happens again."

That reportedly includes cross-checking a voter's actual signature on-file.

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