Obama, Clinton Ballot Petition Fraud Nets Two Convictions
South Bend, IN — Two Democrat officials have been convicted of forging signatures to get Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the 2008 president primary ballot in Indiana.
Former St. Joseph County Democrat Party Chairman Butch Morgan Jr. and and former county Board of Elections worker Dustin Blythe were found guilty by a jury in South Bend after three hours of deliberation. “Morgan was convicted on two counts of felony conspiracy to commit petition fraud and two counts of felony conspiracy to commit forgery, and Blythe was convicted on nine counts of felony forgery and one count of felony falsifying a petition.”
Two other defendants involved in the petition fraud scheme pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Morgan and Blythe. “According to testimony from two former Board of Election officials who pled guilty, Morgan ordered Democratic officials and workers to fake the names and signatures that Obama and Clinton needed to qualify for the presidential race. Blythe, then a Board of Elections employee and Democratic Party volunteer, was accused of forging multiple pages of the Obama petitions.”
Following the guilty verdicts in connection with vote fraud conspiracy, prosecutor Stan Levco noted that the 2008 Obama for president campaign may not have submitted enough valid signatures on the Indiana petitions to properly qualify for the primary ballot because approximately 100 to 200 signatures were bogus. “I think had they been challenged successfully, [Obama] probably would not have been on the ballot.”
Former Democrat Governor of Indiana Joe Kernan was apparently among those citizens whose signature was brazenly forged.
Under Indiana law, candidates need at least 500 valid signatures from each of the state’s nine Congressional district.
Morgan faces up 22 years behind bars, and Blythe could be sent away for as much as 75 years, although it is very unlikely the judge will mete out maximum sentences for those who have no priors.
The two convicted officials are due back in court on June 17 for sentencing.
[Image via Shutterstock]
