Indiana's GOP Sec. of State candidate accused of 'voter fraud' - could be in charge of elections

Yes, you read that headline right. Charlie White, the GOP candidate for Secretary of State in Indiana, the guy who would be overseeing elections laws, is being accused of voter fraud. And, it looks like there's a very strong case to be made against him.

Bil Browning tipped me off about this story earlier in the week. Bil provides the background here:

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is being touted as a 2012 presidential candidate by national media and conservative political pundits due, in part, to Indiana's controversial Voter ID law, one of the most restrictive voting laws in the entire country. Gov. Daniels argued strenuously that this law was necessary to 'protect the integrity of the vote' and to 'prevent voter fraud', despite there not being one single documented case of in-person voter fraud in the history of the state- until now, perhaps.

Believe it or not, questions are swirling around Charlie White, the Mitch Daniels' endorsed Republican candidate for Secretary of State. That's right, the candidate who, if elected, would be responsible for administering elections in Indiana and overseeing the exact same laws he's being accused of violating!

Last week, the Evansville Courier Press reported the story:

The Republican candidate for Indiana secretary of state is under fire for living on the east side of Fishers, an Indianapolis suburb, while registering to vote and representing a town council district on the west side.

In February, Charlie White moved into a condominium outside the district he represented. But at the time he did not leave his council post.

White updated his voter registration, but instead of listing the new address where he now lives, he used the address of a house in which he and his former wife lived until they divorced in 2007. She now owns that house.

White remarried in May.

He said he resigned Tuesday, as required by state law, after he was notified that he no longer lives in the district he represents.

And, he didn't live at the residence he used to register to vote either. That action sounds intentional on the part of White. I'd imagine most divorced people know that they no longer live with their exes, right?

In today's Indianapolis Star, Matthew Tully asks: "Should this voter be in charge of state elections?" Pretty clear that the answer is no:

If there were an election for dogcatcher, and it turned out that one of the leading candidates let his own dogs run wild in his neighborhood, you might think twice about casting a vote for him.

That essentially sums up the controversy surrounding Charlie White, the Republican candidate for secretary of state. White, who hopes to be the state's next chief elections officer, now acknowledges he continued to serve on the Fishers Town Council for months after moving out of the district he represented. Along the way, he also voted in a primary in a precinct in which he apparently no longer lived.

It's quite embarrassing.

After all, Democrats argue, how could White be taken seriously as the elections chief if he can't even follow the law himself?

"It is our clear position that Mr. White has committed voter fraud," Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said. "He has a lot of explaining to do, and he has serious allegations against him."

Parker is clearly enjoying the chance to rough up a Republican candidate for statewide office. Still, he's right.

Today, Bil reports the story "has continued to grow." He uses the terms "special prosecutor" and "grand jury." Bil also reports that White will undoubtedly stay on the ballot. So, this could -- and should -- help propel a win for the progressive candidate in the race, Democrat Vop Osili.