Indiana secretary of state declines to resign after indictment
Indianapolis, IN, United States (AHN) – Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White will not resign following his indictment late Thursday on felony charges of voter fraud, theft for receiving a salary as a town council member despite living somewhere else, and lying under oath to get a mortgage loan.
“I believe the evidence will prove that I did not intentionally break any laws,” White told the Indianapolis Star after being booked and released from the Hamilton County Jail.
“I will continue to do the job I was elected to do,” added the Republican, who took office in January. “I am humbled by the outpouring of support. The important work on behalf of Hoosiers will not be derailed by this process.”
Gov. Mitch Daniels had urged White, who is not required to resign unless he is convicted of a felony, to step down “at least until a verdict is reached.”
Saying he reached a decision after a unanimous recommendation from officials, the governor added, “It would be neither credible nor appropriate for the state’s top elections official to continue to perform his duties while contesting criminal charges, some of them under the very laws the Secretary of State implements.”
Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff, also told 6News that White should “take a leave of absence from his official duties until the legal process reaches a conclusion.”
Two special prosecutors, Republican John Dowd and Democrat Daniel Sigler, are handling the case.
White faces three counts of voter fraud and two counts of perjury for registering to vote using his ex-wife’s address while living in a different precinct, and voting in the state’s May 2010 primary election using the wrong registration address.
He is charged with fraud on a financial institution for lying under oath on a home loan application.
White also faces one count of theft for continuing to accept a salary as a member of the Fishers town council despite having moved from the district.
He signed sales documents stating his primary residence is a newly purchased condominium outside the district he represented, referred to as the Overview Drive residence in reports, in February 2010. He resigned from the town council on Sept. 21, when controversy erupted about the issue during his campaign for secretary of state.
White corrected his voter registration address the following day.
The Indiana Democratic Party at the time called for an investigation into discrepancies in White’s voter registration. They later filed a complaint against the state recount commission for dismissing a legal challenge to White’s certification as secretary of state.
Democrats say White has a history of intentional fraud. They cite White’s statement to a polling clerk and signature in a voter registration book during a November 2009 special election. He later had to correct his voter registration address.
White transferred ownership of his Broad Leaf home to his former wife in 2007 and transferred to a new home, called the Pintail Drive Residence in court documents, the same year.
After his 2009 declaration to the polling clerk, he updated his registration address to the Broad Leaf address but closed the sales of his Overview Drive home four days later.
White’s campaign last year said “a set of personal and family-related circumstances created th[e] scenario,” and that White was “entitled under law to vote one last time at his old polling location.”
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