11302018 - News Article - Late absentee ballots, early voting errors and lack of staff among red flags preceding 'chaos' of Porter County Election

Late absentee ballots, early voting errors and lack of staff among red flags preceding 'chaos' of Porter County election
Chicago Tribune
November 30, 2018
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-election-changes-st-1202-story.html

Sundae Schoon, the Republican director in Porter County’s voter registration office, started worrying about how the county’s midterm general election was being handled in late September.

“There was such an influx of (requests for) absentee ballots coming in,” she said, adding there were only two people in Clerk Karen Martin’s office to handle them.

By the Saturday before the Nov. 6 election, her concerns grew deeper, because the suitcases for precinct inspectors weren’t ready to be picked up. Many inspectors pick up the supplies that day if they can’t get them the day before the election.

She began to wonder.

“If that’s not ready, what else isn’t?” she said, adding she called David Bengs, president of the election board, about the suitcases and he directed her to do whatever needed to be done to get them ready.

That was just one of many problems county and party officials said preceded an Election Day that became a whirlwind of chaos, as poll workers couldn’t get into polls, two court hearings were held to keep late-opening polls open, and poll workers waited long hours for absentee ballots that had never been sorted to arrive.

The ensuring few days brought an effort to count the 18,562 absentee ballots; a protest in front of the county administration building with demands for votes to be counted; calls for an assortment of investigations into how the election was handled, including to the FBI; and a three-day wait for preliminary election results that was capped with calls for Martin, a Republican, to resign for her mishandling of the election. She refused.

Officials attribute the breakdown in the county’s electoral process to a number of factors, including reassurances from Martin that her office could handle the election, a lack of communication with the election board, and an election that was wanting in one of its most basic of needs – workers to answer calls, handle absentee ballots, and usher voters through the polls.

Martin declined to answer a series of questions about the handling of the election posed to her by the Post-Tribune via email. She is finishing her second term as clerk and, under state statute, could not seek another term. Martin made an unsuccessful run for auditor.

Past elections and staffing
The voter registration office handled elections until March when, with a 2-1 vote along party lines, the election board voted to move elections to the clerk’s office. The switch came after Kathy Kozuszek, Democratic director in voter registration, said that office handling the elections, which it had done for decades, ran afoul of state law and she wouldn’t do it any more.

Once responsibilities for the election moved to the clerk’s office, two people from voter registration, one Democrat and one Republican, also shifted to the clerk’s office, Schoon said.

Primary turnout, at just over 14 percent, was typically low and didn’t prepare the office for the general election.

“I think it was just overwhelming and unexpected because the primary was so slow,” Schoon said, adding turnout for the general election hit almost 53 percent.

Through the payroll before Election Day, Auditor Vicki Urbanik said, the election board had spent 43 percent of its personnel budget for the year

Martin has said the county’s 123 precincts required 615 poll workers for Election Day; 471 workers were in place for the general election this year, based on payroll data provided to Urbanik.

Additionally, Sheriff David Reynolds has said that he typically provided between six and eight deputies to deliver sorted absentee ballots to the precincts to be counted at the end of the day. Martin only requested four, and the ballots were never ready for pickup.

“There was an assumption made that there was sufficient staff. There was an assumption made there was contact with the sheriff and poll workers,” said J.J. Stankiewicz, the election board’s lone Democrat. “We never received a call that anything was amiss.”

Bengs, who with Martin serves as the two Republicans on the board, said the election board’s role is to serve as a watchdog for the election process, but the actual handling of the election and delegation of duties was by the clerk.

“We didn’t receive any request (from Martin) that there was additional staff needed. We could have done that, gone to the council, and they would have provided it for us,” Bengs said.

The county council never got such a request, said Vice President Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, who was on the ballot unopposed for a third term in office. He and Councilman Dan Whitten, D-At large, joined commissioners in calling for Martin’s resignation.

When the council started hearing there were needs for the election, Rivas said, “we were moving to have the matter before the council but we were told everything was fine.”

Red flags
Certainly before election night, when poll inspectors and judges flooded the lower level of the county administration building to drop off ballots, officials other than Schoon began to sense there were problems building.

On Oct. 24, on the steps of the county administration building, Valparaiso attorney Jim Harper, a Democrat who made an unsuccessful bid for Secretary of State, held a news conference listing concerns about the election, including voters not receiving absentee ballots in a timely fashion and poll workers who were still waiting on their Election Day assignments.

Days later, on Oct. 27, the ballots of more than 100 voters cast at an early voting site in Portage were not properly initialed by two poll workers. While the number of ballots fluctuated over time, the snafu generated an emergency meeting by the election board and a preliminary decision to reach out to as many of those voters as possible and ask them to recast their ballots during early voting.

On Halloween, the election board again met to discuss the matter in a meeting that degenerated into a shouting match. Stankiewicz tried unsuccessfully to pass a resolution that the ballots be counted as-is instead of having people come back in.

“I realized it was becoming chaos,” said Whitten, who, like several other officials, attended the meeting, which he said descended into “screaming and a blame game.”

Still concerned about the staffing for the election, one of the issues brought up at the meeting, Whitten said that, “even after that, we reached out and said do you have what you need.”

Rivas and Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said in the days before the election, there was a lot of “noise” coming out of the voter registration office, but it seemed to be the usual concerns about finding poll workers.

“It was normal noise, normal politics,” Rivas said.

At 10 p.m. the night before the election, Blaney got a text from someone she knows who signed up as a poll worker but still didn’t know where to go on Election Day.

“It was one person, and it’s hard to get things perfect,” Blaney said. “Even then, I didn’t have major alarm.”

By the morning of the election, Blaney, Rivas and many others throughout the county knew there were significant problems. In all, voting places for 13 precincts opened late because poll workers couldn’t get into buildings or not enough workers showed up. One polling place opened 2½ hours late. Two court hearings followed to keep 12 of those polls open a full 12 hours.

Because elections aren’t under the purview of commissioners, Blaney said she had a “really helpless felling” as the scene unfolded.

“We are not set up in any way to solve that problem,” she said. “Once all the polls were open, I breathed a sigh of relief but that didn’t last very long.”

The night of the election it became increasingly apparent that almost 19,000 absentee ballots were not going to be counted at the voters’ precincts of origin. Bengs consulted with Stankiewicz and Ethan Lowe, the election board’s attorney, to figure out what to do, since Martin wasn’t at the county administration building.

“At that point, we had to try to conduct the election and the count the best we could with what we were dealt,” he said.

In the ensuing three days, the election board and commissioners provided ongoing updates on when preliminary results might be released. That occurred around noon on Nov. 9. As per state statute, the election board certified the results on Nov. 16, 10 days after the election, after spending more than 3½ hours going through provisional ballots.

Call for investigation
Throughout the week of the election, a growing number of officials called for an assortment of investigations.

Commissioners brought in the FBI to determine whether the election merited an investigation. Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, said then that the potential violations of election law included the chain of custody for ballots brought in from polling places.

Commissioners also called on the Secretary of State’s office to investigate, and for that agency to contact the Indiana State Police. The Valparaiso Democratic Committee asked for an independent investigation, and the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union was contacted, too.

“We started to get a lot of calls with people concerned about voter suppression, voter fraud, the big items that take away from the integrity of the election. We felt the need to call an agency that would investigate that. For me, calling the FBI was all about restoring faith in the election,” Blaney said.

Stankiewicz doesn’t suspect the investigations will turn up criminal activity.

“It was total unpreparedness and a lack of knowledge of what’s involved in holding an election. There’s no standard operating procedure for handling an election. There’s no checklist to be checked off,” he said.

The clerk’s office was set up for failure in handling the election from the beginning, sad Jeff Chidester, chair of the county’s Democratic Party, questioning whether anyone had proof that something criminal took place.

“It was sloppy work, incompetence, stubbornness – those are not criminal acts,” he said.

A way forward
Democrat Jessica Bailey takes over as clerk at the start of the new year and officials said she will play a large part in determining how elections are handled going forward.

Candidate filing for the county’s municipal elections starts in January, and officials also have pledged to buy new voting equipment, again with Bailey’s input, so it can get a dry run of sorts next year before the presidential election kicks into gear in 2020.

“I think the duties are very important. Whether or not it’s our office is not clear yet,” she said, adding that decision also will rest with the council and commissioners.

It’s up to the incoming clerk and the election board to determine what the best format for handling the election is, Porter County Republican Party Chair Michael Simpson said, adding he thinks it should stay with the clerk’s office, under a new system.

Rivas said he is encouraged by Bailey, who comes to the office without any baggage, to look at the vehicle that runs the election.

“It needs to be rebuilt,” he said. “Maybe good will come out. I hate to see a voter or a candidate go through this, but maybe this was the only way to get things in line.”

11292018 - News Article - Kozuszek files federal complaint for overtime for election work

Kozuszek files federal complaint for overtime for election work
Chesterton Tribune
November 29, 2018
http://chestertontribune.com/Elections/kozuszek_files_federal_complaint.htm

Democrat Director of Porter County Voter Registration Kathy Kozuszek filed a complaint Tuesday with the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Indiana alleging that Porter County has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by not compensating her for overtime, according to a court document.

The defendants named in the complaint are Porter County, Porter County Election Board, Porter County Clerk Karen Martin (individually, and in her capacity as the Clerk and a member of the Election Board), and David Bengs (individually and in his capacity as a member of the Election Board).

Background
Kozuszek and her Republican counterpart Sundae Schoon have historically been paid overtime, but on Oct. 1, 2016, they were reclassified from non-exempt employees, who are compensated for overtime in excess of 40 hours per week, to exempt employees, who are not compensated for overtime. The Porter County Council approved one-time raises for Kozuszek and Schoon as a compromise.

Kozuszek made a request to receive overtime pay for hours worked during the 2016 general election through her lawyer, Ivan Bodensteiner, on Feb. 12 of this year.

At a March 8 Election Board meeting, the Board voted 2-1, with Democratic member J.J. Stankiewicz dissenting, to transfer election duties to Martin. Part of Stankiewicz’s dissent was the accusation that the move was blatant retaliation for Kozuszek’s request for overtime pay. Stankiewicz also objected to Martin running the election while she was on the ballot running for County Auditor.

Bengs, at the time, said the move brought Porter County election procedures into compliance with state law, as Porter County was at that time the only County where the Voter Registration office ran elections.

The Complaint
Through her lawyer, Kozuszek’s Nov. 27 complaint alleges that her reclassification was a violation of the FLSA because it was a cost saving measure for the County that came with no change in her duties, which have included for nearly 18 years running the elections in Porter County.

The complaint also alleges that the Porter County Election Board’s decision to transfer election duties to the Clerk was retaliation in response to her request for overtime pay.

The complaint says, “As a result of the retaliatory transfer to the Porter County Clerk, the November 2018 election in Porter County was a well-publicized embarrassment, with several Porter county officials attributing the mismanagement of the election to the defendant Martin and her lack of experience in conducting an election.”

The complaint continues, “In an effort to mitigate the failures of the Porter County Clerk, Kozuszek worked several hours of overtime, and the election results were finally announced around mid-day on November, 9, 2018, several days after the election on November 6, 2018.”

“As a result of the willful, continuing illegal actions of the defendants, Kozuszek has been deprived of compensation to which she is entitled and has suffered mental and emotional distress, as well as physical health problems,” according to the complaint.

Kozuszek seeks relief including: “a declaratory judgment determining that the challenged actions of the defendants violated federal and state law;” “equitable relief requiring the defendants to compensate the plaintiff for the overtime she worked, including statutory penalties, and future overtime;” “compensatory damages and liquidated damages and punitive damages from the individual defendants, in an amount to be determined by the jury;” and costs/attorney fees, according to the complaint.

11292018 - News Article - Officials: Porter County election director bailed on job before she was removed

Officials: Porter County election director bailed on job before she was removed
NWI Times
November 29, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/officials-porter-county-election-director-bailed-on-job-before-she/article_f98d1920-9d49-523e-a410-9bd8926a2490.html

VALPARAISO — In a December 2017 email, Kathy Kozuszek told officials running elections was "not our job."

"That email made it clear that the voter registration office would no longer be running the elections," said David Bengs, chairman of the Porter County Election Board.

The Election Board soon after moved the responsibility of running elections from the Porter County Voter Registration office, where Kozuszek works, to the Porter County Clerk's office.

In a federal lawsuit filed earlier this week, Kozuszek contends election responsibilities were removed from the voter registration to clerk's office in retaliation for her requesting overtime pay from the county. The request for overtime pay came after the employee status of Kozuszek, the Democrat director in the voter registration office, and Sundae Schoon, the Republican director, was changed from "non-exempt" to "exempt." The change denied the two payment of overtime.

Kozuszek also contends moving the election responsibility to the clerk's office was the direct cause of the problems within the Nov. 6 election, delaying vote counts for about three days.

Kozuszek's attorney, Ivan Bodensteiner, of Valparaiso, said Bengs and others are not interpreting Kozuszek's email correctly.

"It certainly was not a refusal to run the elections. It was not an indication she wouldn't do the job," said Bodensteiner, adding the email does not change the veracity of the lawsuit.

County Council President Andy Bozak, R-1st, agreed with Bengs, saying when the email was forwarded to the County Council he took it as "giving her notice" and she was no longer going to be involved in running elections in the county.

In the email, Kozuszek tells members of the Election Board and the Republican and Democratic Party chairmen that elections in Porter County are being run in violation of state law. She included attachments of state code outlining the responsibilities of both the Election Board and voters registration office.

"Sundae and I have conducted all elections for Porter County operating outside the scope of the law. NO more for me!" Kozuszek writes.

She also suggests the Election Board hire deputy election commissioners in lieu of elections being run by her office. She dissuades the board from giving the authority to the county clerk, which the Election Board did about two months later.

"Make the elections in Porter County legal!  I don't relish the thought of turning potential candidates away from the Voters Registration office when they come in to file for office by sending them to our absent (from any and all elections) clerk, or (Porter County Election Board members) Dave (Bengs) and JJ (Stankiewicz). If the decision is made to ask for Deputy Election Commissioners it must be done soon and in a public meeting per Indiana State Statute," Kozuszek wrote.

Bodensteiner said Kozuszek didn't bring up anything new in the discussion of Porter County elections in the email. Others had raised the same issue of changing who ran elections to comply with state law, several times in the past, but nothing was done then.

11292018 - News Article - Lawsuit claims Porter County election chaos caused by retaliation

Lawsuit claims Porter County election chaos caused by retaliation
NWI Times
November 29, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/lawsuit-claims-porter-county-election-chaos-caused-by-retaliation/article_787dcf2b-4fe0-5f44-85dd-ba79b2c9265f.html

HAMMOND — Retaliation against a county employee could be at the base of this year's election debacle in Porter County, according to a federal lawsuit.

Kathy Kozuszek, the Democrat representative in the Porter County Voter Registration Office, has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court claiming her fight for overtime pay led to the voter registration office being stripped of its responsibilities to run elections. Instead, she contends, the responsibility was put into the hands of the Porter County clerk.

Kozuszek names the county, Porter County Election Board, Porter County Clerk Karen Martin and Porter County Election Board Chairman David Bengs as defendants in the lawsuit.

"As a result of the retaliatory transfer to the Porter County Clerk, the November 2018 election in Porter County was a well-publicized embarrassment, with several Porter County officials attributing the mismanagement of the election to defendant Martin and her lack of experience in conducting an election. In fact, several county officials called for Martin's immediate resignation," reads the filing by Kozuszek's attorney, Ivan E. Bodensteiner, of Valparaiso.

In the lawsuit, Kozuszek contends everything was fine until the last quarter of 2016, when the county changed her employee status from "nonexempt" to "exempt" to save the county money. As a "nonexempt" employee, she received overtime. 

In February 2018, county attorneys were notified they were in violation of the Federal Labor Standards Act for refusing to pay her overtime for the time she worked over 40 hours each week.

She also contends the action violated the First and 14th amendments.

Less than a month later, according to the lawsuit, the Porter County Election Board, "with encouragement from members of the Porter County Council, took retaliatory action" by transferring election-related duties from her office to that of Martin.

The Nov. 6 Porter County election was plagued with issues, including a lack of poll workers, which caused some polls to open late. A court order opened the polls for the full 12-hour voting period, but that and other issues resulted in vote totals not being released until three days after the election.

Kosuszek is seeking a declaratory judgment against the defendants, compensation for overtime she worked and future overtime, compensatory damages, liquidated damages and punitive damages and costs, including attorney fees. She is also demanding a jury trial in the matter.

EDITORIAL: Verbal jabs won't patch pothole in Portage leadership

EDITORIAL: Verbal jabs won't patch pothole in Portage leadership
NWI Times
The Times Editorial Board 
Nov 27, 2018 Updated Dec 3, 2018 
https://www.nwitimes.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-verbal-jabs-won-t-patch-pothole-in-portage-leadership/article_d0ec1f70-f564-5ab6-834a-c137dd56df2b.html

The hits to both municipal reputation and taxpayer trust just keep coming in the city of Portage, and poor leadership is to blame.

As embattled Mayor James Snyder and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham point fingers and exchange jabs, Portage residents and their infrastructure are losing out.

Times reporter Joyce Russell's Sunday article revealed Portage has been disqualified from any 2018 matching funds from the state Community Crossings program, an important means of obtaining Indiana government support for local road infrastructure projects.

It's all because Portage couldn't get its act together and pay a bill for required reimbursement to the state for previous projects.

Adding insult to injury, an incomplete road construction project may be jeopardizing the city's eligibility for the 2019 initial round of funding from the grant program.

Taken together, those follies could mean Portage will miss out on as much as $2 million in road project funds over two years.

A major genesis behind the unacceptable mishap is municipal officials failing to repay in a timely fashion some $130,000 in funds owed to the state for projects that came in under budget related to the 2016 matching grant program.

Mayor Snyder, already reeling from the embarrassment of a federal felony bribery indictment, blames elected Clerk-Treasurer Stidham for not cutting the check on time.

Stidham points the finger at Snyder, noting the city received an invoice from the Indiana Department of Transportation to pay the reimbursement in April.

He also noted reminder emails were sent to Snyder and other city officials in June and July, but the payment ended up being late.

Making matters worse, a city wheel tax charged to residents is supposed to be keeping the matching funds opportunities intact for the city.

In a weekend Facebook post regarding the overall issue, Portage City Councilman Collin Czilli rightly notes that Portage taxpayers are the ultimate losers in this mess.

"Now, because of poor execution, your tax dollars won't be matched. This is unacceptable," Czilli wrote in his post.

Let's hope a federally indicted mayor and other city officials stop verbally targeting one another long enough to sort out a solution to keep this from happening again.

It may be an order too tall for some the city's key officials.

Portage residents deserve better.

11262018 - News Article - Snyder asks judge to revisit email communications ruling

Snyder asks judge to revisit email communications ruling
Chicago Tribune
November 26, 2018
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-communication-reconsideration-st-1127-story.html

Attorneys for indicted Portage Mayor James Snyder want a federal judge to reconsider a ruling that found federal investigators did not illegally access and use attorney-client email communication.

Jackie Bennett Jr., one of Snyder’s defense attorneys, is asking that Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen reconsider a September order that affirmed a screening process used by federal investigators to review seized email communications, which found that prosecutors did not err in reviewing potentially privileged materials.

Bennett said the court should reconsider the motion now instead of during an appeal, should one be needed.

“If allowed to stand, it will make it practically impossible for white collar defense attorneys, or any defense attorneys, to practice in this district,” Bennett wrote. “Until the order is reconsidered or withdrawn, no one practicing defense work should or could feel safe communicating with their client via email – the predominant form of communication today.”

Bennett said Van Bokkelen’s order used an incorrect interpretation of work product to view the case, and how the order characterized the government’s ability to seize and use attorney-client material.

“The validity of the order depends on erasing what the work product doctrine has meant since its inception, and requires that court to be the first in the nation to find no Sixth Amendment implications in a pre-indictment attack on an attorney-client relationship with a defense attorney,” Bennett wrote in his motion.

For much of 2018, Snyder’s defense attorneys sought to establish that emails communications seized by federal investigators were mishandled and used by prosecutors to gain an advantage over the mayor’s preparations against charges filed in November 2016.

Snyder’s defense attorneys said the charges should be dismissed or trial attorney disqualified if those email communications were accessed. Defense attorneys have argued that emails seized in 2015 were put through a faulty screening process, according to court documents, and the trial team accessed and used privileged communications.

Federal prosecutors said Snyder has not presented any evidence that shows his email communications were used in any improper way during the investigation, according to court documents, and that a judge should not disqualify the prosecutors on the case or dismiss any charges against the Portage mayor.

Van Bokkelen declined to remove the trial team or dismiss any of the charges.

“The court finds that, as carried out in this case, the filter process worked sufficiently, even if the process itself has inherent flaws (it has a semblance of the fox guarding the hen house),” Van Bokkelen said, in his order.

Snyder and Cortina were charged in November 2016 with allegedly violating a federal bribery statue. Federal prosecutors said the mayor allegedly solicited money from Cortina and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.

Snyder received an additional bribery indictment for alleged accepting $13,000 in connection with a Portage Board of Works contract, and allegedly obstructing Internal Revenue Service laws.

Snyder and Cortina both pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents.

11262018 - News Article - Indicted Portage mayor asks judge to reconsider decision to dismiss indictment

Indicted Portage mayor asks judge to reconsider decision to dismiss indictment
NWI Times
November 27, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/indicted-portage-mayor-asks-judge-to-reconsider-decision-to-dismiss/article_bb4ed6eb-7724-5bc0-af2b-b1cc80d8ba6b.html

HAMMOND — Attorneys for indicted Portage Mayor James Snyder are again asking for the charges against him to be dismissed, or the prosecution team be disqualified.

In a motion to reconsider filed in U.S. District Court Sunday, Snyder's lead attorney, Jackie M. Bennett Jr. of Indianapolis, writes the court erred on two aspects when it made its original ruling on Sept. 27.

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen ruled against Snyder in September over Snyder's claim that emails protected by the attorney-client privilege were viewed by prosecutors and harmed his chance to get a fair trial.

Van Bokkelen also ruled against Snyder's claim that the process to review such privileged emails was faulty.

Snyder contended in May that emails protected by attorney-client privilege got through a three-tiered taint team, and were viewed by prosecutors. A taint team is a review process created to ensure that privileged emails are not seen by prosecutors.

That claim led to several hearings, held mostly behind closed doors, where emails were reviewed and the review process was scrutinized.

Snyder was indicted in November 2016 on three counts, including bribery and tax evasion. His trial is set for Jan. 14.

In the latest motion, Bennett writes the September order was wrong in regard to the definition of work product and on a Sixth Amendment attachment issue. Citing several legal cases, Bennett writes there is no precedent to back the court's ruling. Bennett maintains the contention that emails viewed by the prosecution team should be considered protected at attorney-client privilege.

"The court’s order — adopted from the government’s erroneously narrow view — is contrary to Supreme Court precedent, 7th Circuit precedent, the rules of civil procedure, the rules of criminal procedure and every other authority bearing on the topic," Bennett wrote.

"Mr. Snyder’s argument is simple. When the government seizes the work product of a criminal defense attorney and his client pre-indictment, it makes it difficult if not impossible for that criminal defense attorney to provide effective assistance post-indictment," Bennett stated regarding the Sixth Amendment issue.

"The validity of the order depends on erasing what the work product doctrine has meant since its inception, and requires the court to be the first in the nation to find no Sixth Amendment implications in a pre-indictment attack on an attorney-client relationship with a defense attorney," wrote Bennett, renewing the call to dismiss the indictment or disqualify the trial team.

Bennett also suggests the issue be discussed during a hearing Dec. 5. 

11232018 - News Article - Prosecutors in Portage corruption case claim delay in materials doesn't prejudice case

Prosecutors in Portage corruption case claim delay in materials doesn't prejudice case
NWI Times
November 23, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/porter/prosecutors-in-portage-corruption-case-claim-delay-in-materials-doesn/article_a4a726bb-3408-5ad9-ac3e-59065f800f7e.html

HAMMOND — In the 183rd document filed in the public corruption case against Portage Mayor James Snyder, prosecutors contend neither a recording produced late nor a missed deadline in filing a summary of evidence recently will harm the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Philip Benson and Jill Koster filed a response late Wednesday in answer to two motions filed by Snyder's attorney, Jackie M. Bennett Jr., of Indianapolis, earlier this month.

On Nov. 8, Bennett filed a motion asking the court to exclude any information involving any materials federal prosecutors produced on Oct. 16, contending prosecutors have been continually late in handing over discovery in the trial slated to start Jan. 14.

On Nov. 17, Bennett filed a motion to exclude any out-of-court recordings involving Snyder's co-defendant John Cortina because the government was late in filing a summary of evidence due Nov. 16.

Snyder, indicted in November 2016, is facing two charges of bribery and one charge of tax evasion. Cortina is charged with one court of providing a bribe.

In Wednesday's filing, prosecutors wrote they have collected "over 120,000 pages/items of evidence in this complex case." One was a May 2014 recording, which, they write, was delayed because of the mid-prosecution recusal of most of their staff and a turnover of FBI agents in this case.

"Contrary to defendant's baseless and conclusory assertions, the government has not at any time purposefully held back Rule 16 from its discovery productions," states the prosecutors' response.

Prosecutors admitted they were delayed in filing the summary of evidence by 48 hours, over a weekend, but stated it was best to turn in a completed document rather than ask for an extension.

Prosecutors claim neither of the issues prejudice Snyder's case.

11212018 - News Article - Release of undercover recordings renews call for Portage mayor's resignation

Release of undercover recordings renews call for Portage mayor's resignation
NWI Times
November 21, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/release-of-undercover-recordings-renews-call-for-portage-mayor-s/article_04b3b435-e851-5a53-8ed6-f1043b950ac7.html

PORTAGE — The release of excerpts from undercover recordings in court documents earlier this week has renewed calls for Mayor James Snyder to resign.

Portage City Council President Mark Oprisko, D-at large, in an email to Snyder, has asked for not only Snyder's resignation, but also of two unindicted co-conspirators possibly involved in an alleged bribery scheme between Snyder and his co-defendant John Cortina, owner of Kustom Auto in Portage.

Councilman Collin Czilli, D-5th, joined Oprisko in the request.

Councilman John Cannon, R-4th, the lone Republican on the City Council, also issued a statement, expressing his disappointment in the content of the transcripts, but said he is awaiting Snyder's trial in January to issue an opinion.

Snyder did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Federal prosecutors released an 83-page document earlier this week outlining the alleged conspiracy between Snyder, Cortina and a confidential source, identified only as Individual A, to provide Individual A with a tow contract with the city in exchange for $12,000 given to Snyder.

Two unindicted co-conspirators were identified in the court filing as Public Official 1 and Public Official 2. The two allegedly were involved in discussions and actions which ultimately resulted in Individual A receiving a tow contract with the city.

"Mayor, my sole opinion is that I truly feel it is time for you to immediately step down as the mayor of the city of Portage. On and around January of 2017 John Cannon and myself asked you to resign for the benefit of our city moving forward," Oprisko wrote to Snyder. "During that same period of time other elected officials also asked you to resign. Your leadership abilities have deteriorated to the point where it is a disgrace to the residents of the city."

Oprisko also called for Public Official 1 and Public Official 2, if still a part of Snyder's leadership team, to resign immediately.

Oprisko said the federal prosecutor's proffer filed earlier this week was "an eye-opening document that painted a negative picture of our city to all of Northwest Indiana."

"I understand you are anxious to get your trial underway; however, I cannot wait any longer due to the negative implications the past two years that has given Portage a black eye. Once again it’s time for the charade to end for the benefit of our city. Resign," Oprisko said.

"Like many others I couldn't help but shake my head in disappointment," Cannon said in a news release, adding that since Snyder's indictment in November 2016, the city has "had a series of gut punches in regards to an FBI investigation and federal corruption case."

"I am beyond disappointed that James would put himself in such a situation with a city contractor," Cannon said. "They say a picture paints a thousand words, and this is no exception. Our constituents and taxpayers deserve better."

"The latest release of transcripts of conversations regarding towing contracts is a sign that residents deserve better from those in high office," said Cannon, adding that he believes in due process and does not "want to play judge and jury."

"All of that evidence isn't in our hands, it is in the hands of the prosecutors. And soon Mayor Snyder will be on trial. Snyder deserves his day in court. I continue to pray for his family and for our great city," Cannon said.

"The cloud over our city has only become darker since I first called on Snyder to resign. I still believe that it is best he resign so we can move on and rebuild trust with Portage residents," Czilli said in a written statement Wednesday.

11192018 - News Article - Poparad holds on to 15 vote lead in final Porter County election results

Poparad holds on to 15 vote lead in final Porter County election results
Chesterton Tribune
November 19, 2018
http://www.chestertontribune.com/Elections/poparad_holds_on_to_15_vote_lead.htm

The Porter County Election Board certified the 2018 General election Friday--no results changed.

The Election Board met and the counting took place in a back room of the Voters Registration office in suite 105 at the County Administration building while a live feed was broadcast to suite 205 for public viewing.

The final count ten days after the election is usually for provisional ballots, but this year it included all votes cast after 6 p.m. at a dozen polling places that opened late on the morning of election day and stayed open past 6 p.m. by court order. In total, 329 of the 342 ballots reviewed Friday were added to the count. The only 13 ballots tossed were absentee ballots mailed and received after the deadline.

The only race close enough to be decided by those votes was the race for the district 1 County Council seat where incumbent Andy Bozak (R) faced a challenge from former Council member Bob Poparad (D). In the unofficial totals released Nov. 9, Poparad had a razor-thin lead of 15 votes over Bozak.

After the final count, both candidates had garnered more votes, but the margin remained the same with Poparad leading Bozak by 15 votes.

“I want to thank my supporters, and I want to thank Andy for running a nice clean campaign. There’s too much negativity in politics,” Poparad said. He was one of few spectators who stayed to watch the process beginning to end--which was 12 p.m. to 3:45 p.m.

Bozak has until Nov. 20 to request a recount, if he goes that route. Local Republican Party Chairman, Michael Simpson could request a recount as late as Nov. 26.

11192018 - News Article - No recount sought in narrow Porter County Council race as Dems prepare to take over

No recount sought in narrow Porter County Council race as Dems prepare to take over
NWI Times
November 19, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/no-recount-sought-in-narrow-porter-county-council-race-as/article_58a96a28-4b3b-5b57-bc1e-f5e806a14946.html

VALPARAISO — Republican Porter County Councilman Andy Bozak said he will not seek a recount in his 15-vote defeat to returning Democratic Councilman Bob Poparad.

"The people of Porter County have been through enough garbage," he said, referring to the delays and other problems with the local midterm election. "I don't know a recount would do anything anyway."

Bozak will have served on the council for two years when he wraps up his term at the year's end. He was elected in January 2017 by party officials to replace Jim Biggs, who had resigned to return to the Porter County Board of Commissioners.

Bozak thanked Poparad for running a clean campaign and said he believes Poparad will do a good job on the council. Bozak said he will remain available to help the council or the public, to whom he gave his cellphone number after taking office.

"It remains out there," he said of his number.

While he plans to seek elected office again at some point, Bozak said he will first offer to serve as an appointment to a county board to continue giving back.

"I want to stay involved and continue to help," he said.

Bozak was serving on the Burns Harbor Town Council when he was elected to the County Council.

Noon Tuesday is the deadline for candidates to file a challenge or recount of the recent midterm election, and party chairs have until noon Nov. 26, said Porter County Election Board President David Bengs.

Now time to figure out what went wrong
Poparad was among the few people who stuck around for the nearly four hours it took Friday afternoon for county election officials to wrap up the final vote from last week's trouble-ridden midterm election.

"I want to thank my supporters and want to thank Andy for running a nice, clean campaign," he said.

Bozak said Friday the race shows every vote does count.

"It couldn't be more true," he said.

Poparad's victory helped Democrats take back control of the County Council.

The final vote count is posted on a link from the county's website at porterco.org.

The final vote count came one week after the initial tally was wrapped up three days late as a result of numerous problems with the election, including 12 polling places opening late, a shortage of poll workers and accusations of mishandled ballots.

Secretary of State Connie Lawson agreed last week to assist Porter County election officials in figuring out what went wrong and put in place processes that ensure future elections run far more smoothly.

Drew Wenger, chairman of the Valparaiso Democratic Committee, said he would prefer an investigation of the local elections by the Indiana State Police. 

"Instead of more political involvement in this chaos, we actually need less," he said. "We need an investigation handled locally by the Indiana State Police branch in Lowell, not by an Indianapolis politician."

The Porter County Board of Commissioners has called on the county election board to seek an investigation into the election by the Indiana Secretary of State's Election Division and Indiana State Police.

The commissioners also have called for the immediate resignation of Republican Election Board member and Porter County Clerk Karen Martin, who has been held largely to blame for the election problems.

Democratic Porter County Council members Dan Whitten and Jeremy Rivas made the same request.

11192018 - News Article - Recordings: Alleged payments to Portage mayor 'juice' for towing contract

Recordings: Alleged payments to Portage mayor 'juice' for towing contract
Chicago Tribune
November 19, 2018
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-snyder-trial-undercover-recordings-st-1120-story.html

Federal prosecutors aim to use a series of undercover recordings during trial to prove how Portage Mayor James Snyder allegedly solicited bribes to award a city towing contract.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson on Monday filed an 83-page document in federal court asking a judge to allow them to use recordings between a tow operator cooperating with the FBI and John Cortina, of Kustom Auto Body in Portage, who is Snyder’s co-defendant in the corruption case, to show the conspiracy to solicit bribes.

Snyder’s defense attorney, Jackie Bennett, two days before, had already asked a judge to block the admission of those recordings after federal prosecutors failed to meet a deadline to file the request.

“The government’s evidence will establish that defendants Snyder and Cortina engaged in, or aided and abetted in, a conspiracy or joint venture, to commit bribery through the payment and receipt of funds disguised as campaign contributions to further the personal and political interests of the defendants,” Benson said, in court documents.

Benson said that in 2016, a confidential source, who operated a tow company, recorded conversations with Cortina where he was told to reportedly pay Snyder to get on the city’s towing list. Benson said that the source and Cortina allegedly each gave Snyder $6,000, in check form, to the Portage mayor’s campaign fund and “roundtable committee,” according to court documents.

During one recorded conversation, Cortina reportedly said that Snyder call the money “loans” but he called it “juice money.”

During an Aug. 9, 2016 meeting, the confidential source recorded a conversation with Cortina where the two discussed the $12,000 payment and getting on Portage’s tow list, according to court documents.

“Uh, I asked the mayor last night if he needs anything. He says he doesn’t need anything,” Cortina said, on the Aug. 9 recording. “So forget it. We gave $12,000.”

“Yeah, I know,” the source said.

“We gave $12,000. I’m, I’m gonna (unintelligible),” Cortina said.

“We, and we gave $12,000 and we got nothing,” the source said.

“Yeah, I know,” Cortina said.

“Until today,” the source said.

“Well, ‘til today,” Cortina replied.

On Saturday, Bennett asked a judge to bar prosecutors from using the recordings during the trial because the filing was not submitted by the deadline. Prosecutors had asked a judge to file the proffer on Nov. 16, according to court records, but did not file the document until Nov. 19.

“Mr. Snyder believes the court’s deadlines matter, particularly where the government sets a deadline for itself, representing it will meet the deadline,” Bennett wrote. “Mr. Snyder does not believe deadlines are meek suggestions. If deadlines matter, it is now too late...”

Bennett said the missed deadline should deem the recordings of Cortina inadmissible.

As preparations for the trial continue, Bennett said the continued delay by the prosecutors with filing the proffer, which is supposed to describe their theory of the case. has complicated their work.

Bennett said, as of Saturday, that the government’s theory “remains a secret.”

“Mr. Snyder cannot prepare a defense to a secret case,” Bennett said. “He cannot finalize preparing cross-examination questions, expert disclosures, witness lists, exhibit lists, discovery production, or any other element of trial preparation, against a secret case.”

Snyder’s trial is set to begin in January, according to court records.

Snyder and Cortina were charged in November 2016 with allegedly violating a federal bribery statue. Federal prosecutors said the mayor allegedly solicited money from Cortina and “Individual A” and gave them a towing contract for Portage.

Snyder allegedly accepted two checks, one for $10,000 and another for $2,000, from Cortina and “Individual A.”

Snyder received an additional bribery indictment for alleged accepting $13,000 in connection with a Portage Board of Works contract.

Additional charges allege that Snyder obstructed Internal Revenue Service laws.

Snyder and Cortina both pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents.

11192018 - News Article - Transcripts: Defendant describes alleged bribes to Portage mayor as "juice money"

Transcripts: Defendant describes alleged bribes to Portage mayor as "juice money"
NWI Times
November 19, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/transcripts-defendant-describes-alleged-bribes-to-portage-mayor-as-juice/article_664f27e5-351c-511c-8efd-9754a006e597.html

HAMMOND — Calling it "juice money," a Portage contractor detailed how to disguise alleged bribes as campaign donations to Mayor James Snyder, transcripts of undercover recordings filed by federal prosecutors state.

Portage Mayor James Snyder's criminal defense attorney is trying to quash those undercover recordings, which federal prosecutors say link Snyder to a bribery scheme.

Transcripts of the undercover recordings of conversations among Snyder, co-defendant John Cortina, a confidential informant and others filed Sunday in U.S. Federal Court detail evidence prosecutors hope to introduce when Snyder's public corruption trial begins in January.

The 83-page document includes transcripts of secret recordings beginning May 29, 2014, and ending Nov. 10, 2016, six days before Snyder and Cortina were indicted. Cortina, owner of Kustom Auto of Portage, was charged with one count of paying a bribe. Snyder was charged with accepting that bribe.

Snyder also faces two additional charges, including another bribery charge and tax evasion involving his mortgage company. Snyder and Cortina's joint trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 14.

Snyder is hoping those undercover tapes will be thrown out before they ever reach a jury's ears.

In a motion filed Saturday by Snyder's attorney, Jackie Bennett Jr., of Indianapolis, his defense contends that prosecutors missed the Nov. 16 deadline to file the summary of evidence.

"Mr. Snyder cannot prepare a defense to a secret case," Bennett wrote, adding prosecutors have missed several deadlines.

Because prosecutors have missed deadlines, Snyder's defense team is asking the court to rule "that the government cannot introduce any of the out-of-court recordings of Mr. Cortina in a trial involving Mr. Snyder," Bennett wrote.  

Bennett contends the recordings are "hearsay," and their introduction is prohibited by rules of evidence.

The tapes, according to prosecutors, provide evidence of a conspiracy in the bribery case — and that the excerpts filed in Hammond federal court may be just a tip of the iceberg when the trial begins.

"The government expressly reserves the right to offer additional statements of indicted and unindicted co-conspirators," according to the government's filing.

Who is on the tapes?
Two of the "unindicted co-conspirators" in the tapes are referred to as Public Official 1 and Public Official 2, who, according to the transcripts, acted as lead people between Snyder, Cortina and Individual A, also referred to as the Confidential Human Source. The CHS was described as a retired police officer and owner of a Northwest Indiana towing firm, who, after meeting with the FBI, agreed to cooperate with federal authorities to uncover corruption regarding the awarding of towing contracts in Northwest Indiana.

Scott Jurgensen, an FBI informant and owner of Samson's Towing in Merrillville, was a key witness in the unrelated bribery trial of former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich. Jurgensen paid a bribe to Buncich in the form of a $2,000 check for Buncich's campaign and an additional $500 in cash.

Buncich was indicted on the same day as Snyder and Cortina. The former sheriff was convicted in August 2017 on charges of taking bribes in a lucrative towing contract scheme.

The first name "Scott" and references to Samson's Towing are included in the transcripts of excerpts of the government's filing in the Snyder/Cortina case.

"The evidence summarized above establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that James Snyder, John Cortina, Public Official 1, and Public Official 2, conspired, and/or engaged in the scheme/joint venture as charged in Counts One and Two of the indictment, or acted as agents of Snyder in furtherance of the above described joint criminal activity," according to the government's conclusion in the filing, adding the statements made by the parties should be found admissible in court.

A tale of the tapes
According to court records, the initial recording on May 29, 2014, is between Snyder and Individual A regarding what it would take to get Individual A's tow company on the city's towing list.

The two discuss Cortina and possibly having him remove the towing company with which he was then partnering and taking on Individual 1's company, transcripts state.

The next recording is on Jan. 26, 2016, between Cortina and Individual A regarding getting Individual A on the list of towing contractors doing business with the city, court records state.

During the conversation, Cortina is quoted as telling Individual A that he is "tight" with Snyder's brother, who "lets me know everything." Cortina also is quoted as saying he already had lent the mayor about $20,000, including money for his personal business. Cortina tells Individual A that Snyder never has paid him back but that he continues to help out Snyder and his family.

"I've always helped their kids at Christmastime and what have ya," Cortina is quoted in transcripts as saying.

The transcripts continue from conversations taped on 16 different dates, centering on Individual A getting on the city's tow list. According to the transcripts, Cortina and Individual A each gave Snyder $6,000, for a total of $12,000 to be put on the city's tow list. Individual A's company eventually was put on the tow list after work by Public Official 1 and Public Official 2.

On Feb. 1, 2016, Cortina called Snyder, according to transcripts.

"Hey, uh Christmas is here," Cortina is quoted as telling the mayor, arranging to meet Snyder 15 minutes later at Snyder's private company office with the money.

In the tapes, Cortina, often using vulgar language, also discusses with Individual A how to disguise the alleged bribe as a donation and later calls the money "juice money."

"He ... he called it (expletive) loans. He calls it loans," Cortina said.

"You call it juice money," responds Individual A.

"I call it (expletive) juice. I call it what it is. What the (expletive). ... Call it juice money," Cortina is quoted as responding.

Cortina also allegedly told Individual A in several conversations that Cortina is like a family member to Snyder, had paid for vacations for the family, been with Snyder in Las Vegas and bought the mayor's children "thousands" of dollars of fireworks every year.

Conversations documented in the transcripts also centered on Cortina's business repairing the car of Public Official 1's wife for no charge.

11162018 - News Article - UPDATE: Porter County finalizes troubled vote count with no changes in election results

UPDATE: Porter County finalizes troubled vote count with no changes in election results
NWI Times
November 16, 2018
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/update-porter-county-finalizes-troubled-vote-count-with-no-changes/article_23348329-a2a5-5fcc-a89b-23d77cfda106.html

VALPARAISO — Bob Poparad was among the few people who stuck around for the nearly four hours it took Friday afternoon for election officials to wrap up the final vote from last week's trouble-ridden general election.

The waiting paid off, however, as Democrat Poparad learned he held on to his slim victory to unseat Republican Porter County Councilman Andy Bozak in the only race with a close enough margin to be impacted by Friday's vote certification.

While both candidates gained some votes as a result of election officials tallying up a final 329 ballots that were flagged for various reasons to be reviewed, the margin between them remained the same, at 15.

"I want to thank my supporters and want to thank Andy for running a nice, clean campaign," Poparad said.

When contacted later, Bozak said he planned to talk to his wife and those with more knowledge about elections before deciding whether to request a recount. Candidates have until noon Tuesday to challenge the election outcome.

"I really just don't know," he said. "It's been hills and valleys these past weeks."

The outcome of the race shows every vote does count, Bozak said.

"It couldn't be more true," he said.

The final vote count is posted on a link from the county's website at porterco.org.

Election officials were left with 342 ballots to sort through Friday, of which 13 were tossed out, primarily because they had been mailed in beyond the deadline, said Porter County Election Board President David Bengs.

As he and other election officials worked their way through the ballots in the lower level of the county administration center Friday afternoon, the crowd that gathered at noon in a meeting room upstairs to watch a live feed slowly dwindled to just a few people by the time the work was done at 3:45 p.m.

Final tally triggers effort to repair problems

The final vote count came one week after the initial tally was wrapped, three days late as a result of numerous problems with the election, including 12 polling places opening late, a shortage of poll workers and accusations of mishandled ballots.

Secretary of State Connie Lawson agreed this week to assist Porter County election officials in figuring out what went wrong and put in place processes that ensure future elections run far more smoothly.

Lawson said she would not get involved until after Porter County certified its election results Friday because she was a candidate on the ballot, even though her unofficial statewide victory margin was greater than her Porter County vote tally.

Drew Wenger, chairman of the Valparaiso Democratic Committee, also is seeking an outside review of the Porter County elections.

But he contends Indiana State Police should lead it.

"The people of Porter County deserve to know if the election was fair or not," he said. "We all deserve to know the truth about exactly what happened during the weeks and months leading up the election, who created this mess and why it happened."

Wenger objected to Indiana state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, calling in Lawson to lead the effort to restore public confidence in Porter County elections.

"It’s no surprise to me that Indiana state Rep. Ed Soliday has called in a politician from Indianapolis to investigate this. Instead of more political involvement in this chaos, we actually need less. We need an investigation handled locally by the Indiana State Police branch in Lowell, not by an Indianapolis politician."

The Porter County Board of Commissioners called on the county election board last week to seek an investigation into the election by the Indiana Secretary of State's Election Division and Indiana State Police.

On Tuesday, the commissioners directly approved that request to the secretary of state for a state police investigation.

Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, also revealed that he and county attorney Scott McClure already have given information to the FBI.

The county commissioners also have called for the immediate resignation of Republican Election Board member and Porter County Clerk Karen Martin, who has been held largely to blame for the election problems. Martin lost her bid last week to unseat Democratic Porter County Auditor Vicki Urbanik.

Democratic Porter County Council members Dan Whitten and Jeremy Rivas made the same request of Martin, saying they as council members were assured by Martin and the Election Board that they had the resources necessary to carry out the election.

Wenger contends that Porter County Republicans actually are using the election problems to "justify eliminating precinct polling locations" and replacing them with 13 countywide vote centers that he said would "disenfranchise voters."

Soliday said vote centers "could have solved a lot of problems" this go around. But he insisted, "I don't want to be in that fight."

11162018 - News Article - Fallout from Election Day chaos continues in Indiana's Porter County

Fallout from Election Day chaos continues in Indiana's Porter County
The Intercept
November 16, 2018
https://theintercept.com/2018/11/16/porter-county-election-results/

AGENTS FROM THE FBI walked into an office building in the town of Valparaiso, in Porter County, Indiana, last Thursday. County officials had called them for help.

Two full days after the election, ballots for local races still had not been counted. Final election results weren’t released until early the next morning. The delays have caused alarm among local politicians and angered some voters and poll workers, who are calling on the county clerk to resign. More than a week later, one county council race is still too close to call — hanging on a margin of just 15 votes.

Since last week’s elections, reports have come in that raise concerns about alleged efforts to suppress and or manipulate votes across the country, particularly in places like Georgia and Florida. Accounts from local poll workers and voters on Twitter and in the news indicated a broader national breakdown of an overwhelmed electoral system: polling places that ran out of supplies, lines much too long for the elderly or chronically ill to wait in, malfunctioning machines, and even instances where some machines changed votes from one candidate to another. (President Donald Trump and some other Republican politicians, meanwhile, have amplified unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.)

But in Porter County, the logistical problems were so bad that local officials felt they needed to call for outside help getting to the bottom of things. And as in many other places, it’s not clear whether the issues were caused by politics, mismanagement, or some messy combination of both.

“My concern was more about the lack of organization, the lack of planning, the lack of communication, quite frankly,” said Vicki Urbanik, a Democratic incumbent who was re-elected as county auditor. “Clearly they dropped the ball on this.”

This year, the county’s three-person election board voted to transfer administration of elections from the Voter Registration Office to the county clerk’s office, mirroring the way other counties in the state run elections. But Urbanik and other Democrats, as well as Republicans, say that the change caused unusual disruptions in voting this year.

“I will say that [in] most counties that I’m aware of in Indiana, the clerk’s office actually does run the elections. But this represented a real change here in Porter County, because the Voter Registration Office always ran the elections,” Urbanik explained.

County Clerk Karen Martin was one of the board’s two Republican members who voted in favor of the transition; the Democrat, J.J. Stankiewicz, opposed it. Martin was Urbanik’s Republican opponent for county auditor this year. None of the board members responded to multiple requests for comment. Reached by phone, a deputy in Martin’s office declined to comment.

Martin was on the election board for eight years, Urbanik said. “So, in some people’s minds, the switch really should not have been that big of a deal, in terms of disruption to the election process.” But, she added, “when the Voter Registration Office ran the elections, we never had the problems that we experienced like we had this year.”

AT LEAST 13 polls in Porter County did not open until between one and two hours after the slated 6 a.m. start — and one poll opened two and a half hours late.

“I do know for a fact the people left,” Urbanik said. Other poll workers independently confirmed this in interviews with The Intercept. A local Republican judge had to issue an order — requested by the county election board and Indiana’s Democratic State Central Committee, and opposed by the state GOP — to keep 12 of those locations open late so voters could make up for the time lost.

On the morning of the election, more than 18,000 absentee and early voter ballots had not yet been sorted for delivery to designated polling places, where they would be tabulated alongside in-person votes. Sheriffs reportedly delivered the missing ballots at 6 a.m., when polls were supposed to open. (Another court order was issued later that day to ensure absentee votes were counted as normal rather than provisional ballots, which are tallied the next day.)

Several voters who requested absentee ballots never received them, Drew Wenger told The Intercept. He chairs the Valparaiso Democratic Committee, which called Tuesday for state police “to investigate any potential wrongdoing connected to the 2018 Porter County election fiasco.” One 85-year-old woman who voted absentee in every election, Wenger said, didn’t receive her ballot for more than two and a half weeks after her initial request. That was only after she inquired in person with the clerk’s office about the delay.

By county law, two inspectors — one from each party — are appointed to monitor polls on each election. But this year, there weren’t enough inspectors, and when polls were supposed to open, several locations still didn’t have their team assembled.

“My husband and I had been contacting Republicans the day before by phone to try and get the gap filled that there weren’t enough Republican inspectors to run the election,” said Candace Shaw, whose husband, Democrat Frank Szczepanski, failed to unseat the local state representative, Ed Soliday, in Indiana’s 4th District. Soliday has himself called for the Indiana secretary of state’s office to investigate what happened in Porter County.

A self-described political junkie, Shaw has been deeply involved in Indiana politics for years, working polls and coordinating poll staffers on Election Day. She offered that growing up, she identified as a Republican and was vice chair of her local young Republicans committee, until she began to study political science in college and re-evaluated her political views. She said most of her family voted for Trump and remains “very, very Republican.” Despite posturing between the state parties on each side, the mishandling of the election isn’t a partisan issue, Shaw said. “I’m friends with a lot of Republicans here in Porter County, and a lot of them are really upset as well about what happened.”

On top of the absence of coordination and communication, poll workers cited myriad technical difficulties. “At 6am the ballot boxers weren’t working. Inspectors were still MIA. We couldn’t open. My stomach sank. I was trying to do something good and now I’d probably be on the local evening news,” poll worker Michelle Senderhauf wrote in a viral thread posted last week on Twitter. She also echoed Shaw’s account, saying that at her polling place, inspectors appointed by each party to monitor voting were not present.

The clerk’s office had also listed the incorrect address for one precinct, and the local newspaper reprinted the error. When voters from that precinct arrived, mistakenly, at Senderhauf’s polling place, workers didn’t have ballots for them. Senderhauf had to call the election hotline for guidance and redirect voters to the correct location.

Senderhauf told The Intercept that lack of training played a major part in the understaffing of precincts. Poll workers didn’t receive training until less than two weeks before election day. “Classes were announced last minute or would only be during the work day. I’m not surprised people refused to show up,” she wrote in an email. “Even though I watched the online training videos and read through the dense state election manual, I didn’t feel confident at all about what I was going to be doing on Election Day. … The incredibly kind and patient woman who was a clerk with me basically gave me on the job training.”

She added that “the state and county have standard procedures, though, and it sure seems that if those procedures had been followed, much of the chaos that day would have been avoided. I can’t help but think that disorganization and ineptitude caused the problems I saw in Porter County on Election Day. I certainly hope it wasn’t done out of malice.”

Other poll workers and county officials interviewed by The Intercept say the problems were not merely a matter of the clerk’s office being unprepared and overwhelmed, and placed the blame squarely on Martin.

Election board member Stankiewicz raised concerns as early as October 31, at a board meeting, that polling locations would not open on time because inspectors had not yet been assigned. “And nothing was done,” Wenger said.

At 1 a.m. the day after the election, the Northwest Indiana Times reported that poll workers were sitting on the floor of the county courthouse counting early and absentee ballots that were delivered late. That situation was avoidable, Shaw argues.

“We did not want to have 18,000 early voters disenfranchised just because of what the clerk chose to do,” Shaw said. “Those are choices that she made.”

THE ELECTION FIASCO has led to calls for Martin to resign. The clerk has been difficult to reach in the days following the election; she was most recently seen hiding behind a voter at an election board briefing, a local affiliate of CBS Chicago reported.

The FBI confirmed that the Porter County Board of Commissioners contacted them regarding the election, but could not comment on any investigation. “The FBI is always willing to accept information, complaints and tips from public officials and community members,” Chris Bavender, public affairs officer for the FBI’s field office in Indianapolis, wrote in an email to The Intercept. “Per DOJ policy I can neither confirm nor deny an investigation.”

Members of the Porter County Board of Commissioners did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The county is set to verify vote totals Friday.

Urbanik, Martin’s challenger, believed that the elections were clearly mismanaged. While she made clear that she did not suspect a deliberate attempt at voter suppression, as a former reporter who observed elections in the county for 25 years, she said it was not out of the question.

“When you look at the polling sites that were not adequately staffed, and that they didn’t open on time, most of them were in one particular area. Which tends to vote Democrat. Not necessarily Democrat, but it tends to be Democrat,” Urbanik told The Intercept in a phone interview.

Shaw called the chaos that ensued in Porter County and elsewhere “completely un-American.”

“It goes against everything that I’ve ever been brought up to believe. Even when I was a Republican, compared to now that I’m a Democrat,” she said. “It’s against everything that we believe about the way that our voting system is supposed to work.”