Absentee ballot supervisors resign, St. Joseph County Council offer solutions

SOUTH BEND, Ind - Following allegations of mishandled absentee ballots by both the Republican and Democratic absentee ballot supervisors, a meeting was called at the county city building to discuss election integrity.

The Republican supervisor has now been moved to the Clerk's office in Mishawaka, while the Democrat supervisor has resigned.

New supervisors have already taken their place.

The Republican St. Joseph County Clerk Amy Rolfes says the concerns stem from pre-signed absentee envelopes.

“The intent is to put their live ballot into the abs 7 envelope," said Rolfes. "It is a security envelope and then after that the clerks are the ones that attest that they received that ballot from the voter and they have to sign their name to that."

Rolfes is now confident all the absentee ballot workers will follow the law and not sign those ballots in advance.

Diana Hess, the St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chair believes there's still some grey area when it comes to those abs7 ballots.

“If they pre-sign those envelopes, as long as they're using the envelopes that they pre-signed when they took the voter, that could be acceptable. There's nothing in the law that states there has to be an order of when signatures are applied," said Hess.

Hess feels pre-signing the envelopes could help voters, especially when large crowds turnout for next year's presidential election.

"If two clerks have to sign the ballots, those abs 7 envelopes every time a voter comes it could slow down the process and it can lead to long lines," said Hess. "Voters could be disenfranchised and there could be voter suppression."