Little voter registration fraud seen in Bartholomew

As the state continues to investigate an unfolding voter registration fraud case, Bartholomew County has been relatively unaffected.

Bartholomew is one of the 56 counties identified by state officials in the probe but County Clerk Jay Phelps says that there have only been a few problems here..

“I can just tell you that in Bartholomew County, we had a handful that looked like the same person had tried to fill out some same registrations,” Phelps said. “But those didn’t get processed. We have actually finished processing the ones up through the deadline and I can tell you that it doesn’t look like we have had any more fraud.”

Phelps said that the investigation began in Marion County and that is also where the apparently fraudulent Bartholomew County applications originated.

“I just want to assure voters that are rolls are accurate and they are up to date,” Phelps said. “I would just encourage you to take pride in the process and to show up to vote and don’t worry about anything you see as far as the investigation goes. Because I really think it is minimal here in Bartholomew County.”

As of noon yesterday, more than 1,700 people had cast early ballots, either in person or by mail. Phelps said that is about four times the pace of 2008.