SJC Election Board finds no deliberate wrong-doing in election integrity hearing

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - Next week will bring debate on a proposal that would abolish the voter registration office in St. Joseph County.

Friday, a hearing was brought to determine whether workers in that office broke the law during the last election.

As a rule, voter registration must stop 30 days before an election. Today’s formal hearing conducted by the St. Joseph County Election Board focused on exceptions to the rule and whether the rules were followed in granting those exceptions.

Three witnesses were called. All worked in the voter registration office during the last election. “I have been harassed, I have been bullied, I’ve been targeted, I’ve been accused of things I did not do,” Democrat Donna Hurley told the board.

Today’s testimony made it clear that there was disagreement among workers on some of the registration eligibility calls that were being made.

“It is the responsibility of voter registration to maintain accurate records. There was nothing in her record that would indicate that she should have been cancelled. Therefore, I took the steps that were allowed under the failsafe procedures per Indiana code to allow the voter to exercise her constitutional right to vote,” said Democrat Amanda Konrath.

To which Republican member Trisha Carrico replied: “It’s one thing when we accidentally cancel somebody by saying that they were deceased. That is our fault. This is not our fault. This was the fault of the voter for not following through, for almost a year and a half, forgetting her registration corrected.”

In the end, the election board decided that some things were done wrong in voter registration, but there was no deliberate wrong-doing and no need to forward the matter to law enforcement for further investigation.

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