St. Joseph County Clerk talks election security ahead of President Trump's Thursday night address

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- St. Joseph County Clerk stopped by ABC57 to talk about election security ahead of President Trump's primetime address Thursday night where he is expected to share new information about the 2020 election.

For the last six years, Trump has maintained the same claim that the 2020 election was stolen and fraudulent. Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020. Election fraud has become part of the conversation during election cycles since then. St. Joseph County experienced their fair share of fraud in 2024. Just last year, a woman plead guilty after being accused of forging voter signatures to help get a president candidate on Indiana's 2024 ballot. There were 530 signatures but only 19 of them were valid.

"We also have signature verification so in our statewide voter registration system we can look at every registered voter and see their signature history going back to the first time that they registered to vote so we know using the tools that we have from the statewide voter registration system that that application for an absentee mail and ballot was in fact the... came from that voter."

Rolfes says verifying each voter is tedious work but it's the standard for any election and it's the reason they caught the fraud when they received the signatures.

Rolfes says transparency and voter education are her top priorities in her role and aid in election security and integrity.

"We have received many, many dollars in grant money to improve our security around our vote machines, and that was a very good thing. Lots more cameras and lighting and security and keycard access and things like that to bolster the security of the machines themselves while they're in storage."

Absentee mail in voting has been a hot topic since 2020; it has also caused concerns for people across the country who wonder when the ballots are coming in during election night. Rolfes is aware of these concerns but says the mail in ballot process is secure in St. Jospeh County.

"Our absentee mail-in ballots, that whole process-is extremely secure. We do not mail out any ballots to anyone who has not provided us an application; we log that application into our system, making sure that is a registered voter that lives at that address, and we also have signature verification. So, in our statewide voter registration system, we can look at every registered voter and see their signature history going back to the first time that they registered to vote. So, we know, using the tools that we have from the statewide voter registration system, that that application for an absentee mail-in ballot did in fact come from that voter, and then when we send out the ballot to that person, after we send out the ballot to that individual voter, and they return that ballot to us, we do another signature verification."

Rolfes is the Republican candidate for St. Joseph County Clerk and will face off against Democrat Stephanie Ball. During the primary election and the upcoming midterm election, Rolfes says she will recuse herself when it comes to her race.

"The county election board is made up of a Democrat, a Republican, and then the sitting clerk, and those three, in the bipartisan way, make decisions about where the vote centers are going to be, and approving the workers for the vote centers, and they do make decisions about the ballot as well. So, I recuse myself whenever there's a decision that needs to be made about my race, but other than that, the logistical pieces of running an election, for example, doing the training of all. We probably have 500 election workers for this upcoming election in November. That responsibility falls on the election board, and I'm the one that actually does the training. So that has nothing to do with my race, my contest. So, I am maintaining most of my duties as the clerk to run the election, but certainly recusing myself when it's necessary."

She also shared August 11 is National Poll Worker Recruitment Day where the election board will be recruiting people to work the polls for the midterm election. Rolfes encourages everyone, especially those curious about the voting process and those who may not trust the process to volunteer to learn firsthand what takes place.