A dozen Democrats have been arrested for a large voter fraud scheme in Indiana during the 2016 election — and to no ones surprise, they’re linked straight back to former President Bill Clinton.
Twelve employees of a group funded by Democrats to mobilize minority voters in Indiana are accused of submitting fake or fraudulent voter registration applications ahead of last year’s general election, according to charging documents filed Friday.
In other words, the arrests have started for the people trying to rig the election.
Prosecutors allege that 11 temporary workers employed by the Indiana Voter Registration Project created and submitted an unknown number of falsified applications. According to a probable cause affidavit, a supervisor for those canvassers, Holiday Burke, was also charged, as was the group.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said State Police said the charges against the workers arose from “a very bad, ill-advised business practice” of setting canvassers what appears to be a daily quota.
The Indiana Voter Registration Project’s effort to register primarily minority voters was overseen by Patriot Majority USA, which has ties to the Democratic Party, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and former President Bill Clinton.
Patriot Majority Spokesman Bill Buck on Friday declined to comment.
State Police began investigating the group in August after a clerk in Hendricks County near Indianapolis flagged about a dozen registration forms that had missing or suspicious information. That investigation expanded to 56 counties where Patriot Majority said it had collected about 45,000 voter registration applications before last November’s election.
All 12 defendants face one count each of procuring or submitting voter registration applications known to be false, fictitious or fraudulent. Eleven of them face one perjury count each, while the 12th — their supervisor — faces one count of counterfeiting.
If convicted on all the charges each defendant faces up to 2 and a half years in prison.
The Indiana Voter Registration Project faces the same charges as the supervisor. If convicted, the group could face a fine of $10,000.
During the campaign, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, raised the possibility of a “rigged” election.
Since then, multiple instances of voter fraud and electioneering have been discovered.
The investigation found workers had submitted bogus applications on behalf of nonexistent residents, submitted new applications for people who were already registered, and at least one application was submitted on behalf of a minor.
A search warrant unsealed on Nov. 14 says some workers admitted to falsifying registrations, saying they faced the possibility of losing their temporary job if they didn’t register at least 10 new voters a day.
The probable cause affidavit says supervisors told canvassers “to obtain their quota by any means necessary.” Canvassers were paid $10 an hour and worked five-hour shifts.
“By giving someone a financial motive to (meet a quota) is what caused these canvassers to cut corners and do things that not only undermined the goal of having legitimate registered voters but led to a situation where we allege it bled over into criminal conduct,” Curry said.
The search warrant indicates that Patriot Majority submitted several hundred voter registration applications that included false, incomplete or fraudulent information. The warrant’s contents allowed State Police to raid the Indianapolis offices of Patriot Majority USA in October.
The Associated Press contributed to this article