Indiana State Police investigating potential election fraud in St. Joseph County

 

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. - Indiana State Police and several other organizations are investigating potential election fraud in St. Joseph County involving Presidential candidate Dean Phillips.

St. Joseph County Clerk Amy Rolfes held a press conference Friday morning laying out the details. According to Rolfes, the St. Joseph County Clerk’s office allegedly found a number of fake signatures on petition forms for Phillips’ candidacy in the May primary. These signatures did not match records in the Statewide Voter Registration System, Rolfes said.

She also noted that many of the addresses on the petition forms don’t exist.

"So, we had 530 voters who had signed petitions, 530," Rolfes said. "And of those 530, according to our due diligence, or protocols, or following the process, we found 19 that were valid."

Phillips, a third-term Democratic Congressman from Minnesota, is challenging President Biden in the primary, and just came out of New Hampshire with momentum.

ISP, along with the St. Joseph County Election Board, the Office of the Indiana Secretary of State and the Indiana Election Division, are looking into the incident, which could result in criminal charges.

"Election fraud is not a conspiracy theory in St. Joseph County, it is real," Rolfes said. "And this incident demonstrates why signature requirements and photo identification are essential elements, ensuring our elections are honest and fair."

ABC57 News reached out to the Phillips campaign, who gave us the following statement:

The campaign had hired a small business to conduct signature collection, as many campaigns do. The campaign has been made aware of evidence that this third-party business was fraudulent in its representations of signature collection to the campaign. The campaign is exploring legal action.