“I would like to thank Secretary of State Connie Lawson for her diligence in contacting Indiana State Police detectives and reporting that thousands of paper form voter registration applications were changed, including dates of birth and first names. Given our ongoing investigation, Secretary Lawson believed this could be further evidence of voter fraud and immediately contacted Indiana State Police detectives who were working on the case. We are grateful to Secretary Lawson for her prompt attention to this matter.
“Let me be clear: Among the highest priorities of the Indiana State Police is ensuring the integrity of this election and that every Hoosier vote counts.
“Because of these new revelations, the magnitude of the possible fraud involved and with the election less than three weeks away, I have directed all available resources within the Indiana State Police to assist with this investigation. Given the fact that the Statewide Voter Registration System has not been compromised, we believe the reports Secretary Lawson turned over yesterday may serve as evidence of forgery by representatives associated with the Indiana Voter Registration Project, which is a subsidiary organization of a group that calls itself Patriot Majority USA.
“It is very important to recognize that instead of telling Hoosiers they would cooperate with our investigation and working with Indiana officials to get to the bottom of the fraud issue, Patriot Majority USA instead launched a partisan advertising campaign accusing Governor Pence of leading a ‘government attack against’ Hoosiers and the Indiana State Police of ‘police intimidation.’
“This is completely false and I condemn these attacks on the Governor and Indiana State Police in the strongest possible terms. Furthermore, Patriot Majority’s claim that our investigation began at the direction of Governor Pence is false. Governor Pence has never asked me or anyone in the Indiana State Police to initiate any investigation. Any suggestion to the contrary is offensive to me personally and the more than 1,000 troopers who serve with integrity and distinction every single day. The leadership of Patriot Majority should be ashamed of itself for suggesting otherwise.
“This investigation began with a concerned citizen alerting county election officials to dozens of voter application forms with grave discrepancies that indicated the possibility of fraud and forgery. Election officials called the Indiana State Police and a detective responded and determined further investigation was warranted.
“Our investigation currently spans 56 of Indiana’s 92 counties and has more than two dozen state police detectives diligently reviewing thousands of suspect voter application forms.
“While I cannot speak to the specifics of this investigation I have the highest level of confidence there will be County Prosecutors in multiple Indiana counties who will hold a number of people criminally responsible for their actions.
“We at the Indiana State Police have one goal: To enforce the laws of Indiana, and in this case, the laws associated with voter registration to ensure every Hoosier who is eligible to vote can cast a vote with confidence that their vote will count and they will not be disenfranchised as a result of the criminal actions of others.”
