Democrat Mike Marshall Sentenced To Jail Time For Absentee Vote Fraud Racket

Former Democratic State Rep. Mike Marshall operated one of the biggest absentee vote fraud rackets in Indiana history. His ability to deliver votes in Southern Indiana made him a political star in Indiana Democratic Party circles. Today, Jennings Co. Circuit Court Judge Jon Webster sentenced the 60-year old Marshall to 18 months in prison with nine months of his sentence suspended. Marshall reached an agreement with special prosecutors in his case last January to plead guilty to some of the vote fraud charges rather than take his chances at trial. His high-profile attorneys, James Voyles and Larry "Trash Can" Wilder had hoped their client would avoid any jail time. Judge Webster rejected the pleas of his attorneys and Jennings Co. Democratic Chair Karen Snyder that he be spared jail time.

Before handing down the sentence, Webster noted the vitriol surrounding politics on both sides of the aisle, and the measures he took toward ensuring the court's integrity.

"When this case first came about, I knew there was a possibility for political overtones," the judge said. "That's why I appointed special prosecutors for this case from both (political) parties."

While the judge made note of Marshall's longtime community involvement and lack of criminal history, Webster showed concern for the impact the defendant's actions could have.

"Those who tinker with the election process are tinkering with the foundations of democracy," the judge remarked. "I worry that this will only serve to further voter apathy and voter cynicism. I don't want the citizens of Jennings County to question the appointment of elected officials and wonder if it was really their votes that put them there."

Marshall's supporters expressed disappointment at Judge Webster's decision. "I am just really disappointed. There are no victims in this case," Snyder said. "We have three people who wanted to vote, and Mike wanted to help them do that." Uh, no, Ms. Snyder, there were far more cases of vote fraud than just three absentee ballots. Those were just the three the special prosecutors agreed to allow Marshall to cop a plea to committing to avoid trial on many other absentee ballots that were cast fraudulently. God only knows how many elections have been stolen down in that part of the state as a direct result of this absentee ballot racket that had been going on for years. Snyder's reaction to the sentence shows that the Democrats have learned absolutely nothing from this ordeal. They believe the ends justifies the means. If winning elections can only happen by stealing votes, Democrats believe that is entirely appropriate. We have a President who arose out of a political operation that mastered the art of election fraud to win elections.

Indiana Republican Party State Chairman Eric Holcomb, recalling last week's conviction of St. Joseph Co. Democratic Party Chairman Butch Morgan for his role in a scheme to forge voter signatures to secure a place for Barack Obama on the 2008 Indiana Democratic Primary ballot, noted that it's been a busy week for the Indiana Democratic Party. "The rule of law continues to expose their culture of corruption," Holcomb said. Holcomb noted that Marshall's name appears on the campaign finance reports of numerous Democratic elected officials for whom he's performed political consulting work, including Sen. Joe Donnelly and State Rep. Terry Goodin. "Election fraud is not a myth," he said. "If Indiana Democrats are serious about protecting elections, they should start by following the law."

Relative Of Democrat Absentee Vote Fraud King Barred From Voting In Indiana

Jennings County Democratic leader Mike Marshall was the king of absentee voter fraud in Indiana, hauling in thousands of votes for Democrats each year. The law finally caught up with Marshall recently after a grand jury indicted him, his son and another Jennings County Democrat for 65 counts of absentee voting fraud. One of Marshall's relatives, Robert Marshall, has been casting absentee ballots in Jennings County for many years despite his residence in the state of Alabama. Local election officials finally challenged Marshall's absentee ballot in this year's primary election, a challenge which was upheld by the county elections board. Marshall sought a declaratory judgment from a special judge, Roger Duvall of Scott County, to allow him to vote in tomorrow's municipal elections. Judge Duvall sided with election officials in ruling that Marshall's true residence was in Alabama and that's where he should be voting in elections. The Plain Dealer-Sun has the pertinent facts supporting the decision:

Marshall, who has lived and worked in Alabama for some time now, has voted in local elections for as far back as computer records are available (1995).

His basic argument was that even though he is working out of state, his residence is here, his family farm is here, he has consistently subscribed to the local Plain Dealer & Sun, and he plans to return here to live.

"It is all about intent," argued Greathouse [Marshall's attorney] in his closing statement. "If you want to put it simple, put a lie detector on him and play "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Back Home in Indiana" and see what happens."

However, Judge Duvall pointed out that "for all intensive purposes," Robert Marshall had made Alabama his home, including registering his cars there, obtaining a driver's license and filing income taxes there.

The judge acknowledged that he, too has strong ties to his childhood home in Kentucky, but that he is now a resident of Indiana.

Similarly, Robert is now a resident of Alabama and should vote in that state.

Too bad we don't have elections officials in Marion County who will enforce the law against Evan Bayh and his wife, Susan, to prevent them from casting illegal votes in Indianapolis when everyone knows they reside in their multi-million dollar mansion in Washington, D.C. where Bayh works several jobs and their children attend school.

Democrats Charged In Massive Vote Fraud Scam In Jennings County

Photo of Mike Marshall from The Voting Film Project

A former state representative and prominent Democratic leader and political consultant from Jennings County, Mike Marshall, has been indicted on multiples counts of vote fraud, forgery and perjury, along with Marshall's son, Chris, and another local Democrat, John Cook. The Columbus Republic has the story on the grand jury indictments just returned against the men:

Three Jennings County residents face a combined 65 felony counts after being indicted by a grand jury on charges of vote fraud, forgery and perjury.

Mike Marshall, a Democrat and president of North Vernon's Utilities Service Board, faces 12 Class D felony counts of forgery, 13 Class D felony counts of perjury and 20 Class D felony counts of vote fraud, according to paperwork filed with the Jennings County clerk's office.

Marshall's son Chris Marshall faces one count each of forgery and perjury and nine counts of vote fraud.

John Cook, a Democrat and member of the Utilities Service Board, faces two counts of forgery, three counts of perjury and four counts of vote fraud.

The case stems from an absentee ballot filed in last year's election.

Marshall, as the local Democratic party leader in Jennings County, has been credited in recent years with turning out incredibly large numbers of absentee ballots that have tipped several close races in favor of the Democrats, including a local state representative race that narrowly gave Democrats control of the Indiana House of Representatives a few years ago. Marshall was featured in The Voting Film Project, a documentary on the 2008 presidential election along with another Indiana Republican Party activist, Dee Dee Benkie. "On Election Day, Republicans and Democrats alike are stunned as Barack Obama defeats John McCain to carry not only North Vernon but the entire state of Indiana," the website promoting the documentary says. The website describes Marshall as "a savvy political consultant who has been in politics since he was 16, when he was the leader of The Birch Bayh Democratic Club."

This is not the first time Marshall has been at the center of controversy. Marshall, an openly gay man, started out running the campaign of Indiana's first openly gay congressional candidate, Kris Kiser, in Indiana's 7th congressional district in the 2006 primary race against former U.S. Rep. Julia Carson (D). Marshall left Kiser's campaign after a falling out with the candidate. There were also allegations of wrongdoing committed by Marshall when he ran Joe Donnelly's 2004 congressional campaign in the 2nd District concerning the misuse of campaign funds.

Vote fraud allegations have recently made headlines in the 2nd District after the South Bend Tribune and Howey Politics uncovered a massive petition-forging effort on behalf of the 2008 Indiana primary presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that took place within the district in order for the two candidates to gain access to Indiana's Democratic primary ballot. The investigation discovered that without hundreds of forged signatures, Barack Obama's name would not have appeared on the primary ballot, a key turning point in his successful bid for the nomination over Hillary Clinton. Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker forced the resignation of 2nd District Chair and St. Joseph Co. Democratic Chairman Butch Morgan despite Morgan's contention that he had nothing to do with the forging of the petition signatures. St. Joseph Co. Prosecutor Michael Dvorak, a Democrat, has agreed to investigate the allegations after the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District turned it down after receiving orders from the Obama Justice Department in Washington not to investigate the case, deferring to the state prosecutor. Following the petition-forging scandal, Democrats have launched their own investigation to try to prove that Republicans engaged in wrongdoing during the petition-gathering process for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential primary campaign in Indiana.

UPDATE: The Jeffersonville News & Tribune reports that Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan accepted the reisgnation of Mike Marshall, who had been in charge of his campaign efforts to solicit absentee votes, following new of  today's indictment.

In a short interview on Friday, the mayor acknowledged that he’d been working with Marshall for the last eight months. He said he knew his family and that he had campaign experience working in the re-election campaign of Rep. Terry Goodin, a Democrat, and one of Southern Indiana’s state house representatives. 

Marshall was one of several people that Galligan personally thanked during his victory speech on primary night in May. According to the latest campaign finance reports, filed Friday, Galligan’s campaign paid Marshall’s business, North Vernon-based At Your Service Co., more than $52,710.23 through the year — almost a third of the campaign’s total expenditures. 

“He was in charge of getting out the vote,” Galligan said. When asked to elaborate on what those duties entailed, he referred questions to campaign manager Phil McCauley. 

McCauley said Marshall supervised a staff of about five people who would solicit eligible voters to vote by absentee ballot. Marshall and staff also made phone calls on Galligan’s behalf, McCauley said. 

McCauley said he had not heard about the indictment until a reporter called him about Friday afternoon. 

“It’s a stunner,” he said. 

He called Marshall and read him media coverage of the indictments over the phone. 

“He offered me his resignation on the spot,” McCauley said. 

“The reason we got Mike Marshall involved was because we thought he was squeaky clean. We wanted everything 100 percent clean,” McCauley said.

Yeah, right, McCauley must have been sleeping under a rock if he believed Mike Marshall was "squeaky clean." It was common knowledge in Democratic circles that Marshall was a master at absentee voter fraud. That was why they sought out his services.