Like every president, President Barack Obama has those who adore him and those who despise him. However, there are some who question if he should legitimately be our president at all. A new trial is investigating whether either Obama or Hillary Clinton procured enough legitimate signatures to quality for the presidential election. Specifically, in 2008 both Clinton and Obama were said to have garnered 500 signatures, from each of Indiana’s nine congressional districts; but it seems that there was a conspiracy in which four people committed fraud, forging whole pages of signatures.
St Joseph County Democratic Party Chairman Butch Morgan Jr. is facing multiple felony conspiracy counts to commit petition fraud, and is accused of being the mastermind behind a scheme to fake names, a conspiracy that two members have already confessed to participating in. The current trial aims on confirming whether Morgan was behind it, and is also taking to task former county Board and Elections worker Dustin Blythe, who is being charged with nine felony forgery counts and one felony count of falsely making a petition of nomination. The trial began Monday in South Bend.
Former Board Registration worker Lucas Burkett was also part of the plan, but felt uncertain and quit; he didn’t report it until three years later, nevertheless. Had he reported it earlier, Obama could have been lifted from the ballot.
Investigation has found that Clinton had 13 pages, at least, of forged signatures, possibly 130 fakes, and Obama 90. As he qualified with 534 signatures, that would mean he would not have procured enough to qualify.
Fox news contacted a few people whose names had been faked on the petitions. “That’s not my signature” said Charity Rorie, when showed the Obama petition with her name and signature.
“It’s scary, it’s shocking. It’s definitely illegal. A lot of people have already lost faith in politics and the whole realm of politics, so that just solidified our worries and concerns.”
Ryan Nees, Indiana native and Yale University senior first uncovered the allegations and wrote about them for the political newsletter, Howey Politics Indiana. “What’s worrisome about this scheme is that it wasn’t a single bad actor going rogue. Rather, four people were charged as co-conspirators, and two of the four have already pleaded guilty,” he told Fox News. “It’s unlikely either candidate would have qualified for the ballot.”
A Gingrich campaign worker had also been charged with faking signatures in 2012 race, which caused him to be disqualified for the GOP primary.