SJC Clerk secures $110,000 grant to shore up election security

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — REAL News Michiana has learned the St. Joseph County Clerk, Republican Amy Rolfes, has secured a $110,000 grant to beef up the county’s election security measures. This morning, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales traveled to St. Joseph County to present Rolfes and her team a check for the state grant award.

Details of the grant were released during a news conference at the County-City Building in Downtown South Bend this morning. Rolfes described increased security measures including state-of-the-art key card entry systems, updated security cameras, motion sensors and more.

HISTORY OF UNSECURED ELECTIONS UNDER DEMOCRAT LEADERSHIP

Rolfes took over as the first Republican of the Clerk’s Office after decades of Democrat control and massive concerns regarding the integrity and security of elections in St. Joseph County.

In 2022, REAL News Michiana obtained security video showing Democrat St. Joseph County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Rita Glenn, entering the secured absentee ballot area alone after business hours, leading to an Indiana State Police investigation. In the video, Glenn enters the area with a grocery bag, then exits with several documents and throws them away. The video was taken by security cameras in the hallway outside of the secured absentee voting area in the Clerk’s office and appears to show Glenn potentially ripping the documents up prior to shoving them down the sides of a blue disposal bin in an attempt to conceal them. Glenn is also seen checking another door that would give access to the hallway, potentially locking it prior to disposing the documents concealed in the bag.

The video was captured around 4:50pm on May 2nd of 2022, the day before the primary election and 20 minutes after the close of business hours for the Clerk’s Office. You can view the videos of her entering and exiting the ballot area below.

The discovery of this video came only months after the Indiana State Police opened an investigation into Glenn for potential voting law crimes following another RNM story about the Democrat possessing and disseminating multiple keys to the secured absentee ballot area without the knowledge of the St. Joseph County Republican Party.

In early May of 2022, Republican officials discovered the existence of multiple keys to access what is supposed to be a secure location to store absentee ballots before they’re counted. The room in the County-City Building, in Downtown South Bend, is secured with two different locks, one for the Republicans the other for the Democrats. In theory, a Republican and Democrat keyholder must be present to gain access to the ballots. While Republican leadership was under the impression that only one key existed for each lock, it turns out there could be up to 7 keys total, with multiple Republican keys being held by Democrats.

DISCOVERY OF KEYS

According to sources who wished not to be named, the revelations came through simple confusion about when designated keyholders were supposed to be at the County-City Building to open the room. The Republican key holder was not immediately available to open the room in early May, so Democrat St. Joseph County Circuit Court Clerk, Rita Glenn, grabbed what she called a “Master Key” and had what she claimed to be a “Republican” in her office open the door for her. That “Republican” is Helen Jojo. A quick search of her voting records show she has never voted in a Republican primary and is not considered to be a Republican by Indiana statute. In fact, the only primary she has voted in was in 2008 as a Democrat, according to voting records.

WHO HAD THE KEYS

Rita Glenn claimed three people, aside from her, have Republican keys.

• Ben Horvath: Republican Election Board Chair — Voted in only Republican Primaries. Horvath is selected as the official key holder.
• Penny Stratton: Election Clerk and Employee of the St. Joseph County Circuit Court — Voted in only Democrat Primaries.
• Brian Davidson: St. Joseph County Buildings Engineer — Voted in Republican Primary in 2020, Democrat Primaries in 2019 and 2018.

Glenn also disclosed that there are three Democrat keys. Those keyholders are listed below.

• Brian Davidson: St. Joseph County Buildings Engineer — Voted in Republican Primary in 2020, Democrat Primaries in 2019 and 2018.
• Penny Stratton: Election Clerk and Employee of the St. Joseph County Circuit Court — Voted in only Democrat Primaries.
• Rita Glenn: Democrat St. Joseph County Circuit Court Clerk

IS IT ILLEGAL?

The intent of the law mandating the two lock system is to maintain election integrity. The law mandates there be Democrat lock with a key given to a Democrat keyholder and a separate lock with a key given to a Republican keyholder. While the intent of the law appears to stipulate that there only be one key per lock, Indiana Statute does not specifically state additional keys can or cannot exist.

You can read the entire statute below:

IC 3-11-10-10 Absentee ballots to be kept under two locks in cabinets, boxes, or room; security of keys

     Sec. 10. During the period that absentee ballots are being received, each county election board shall keep the ballots in cabinets, boxes, or a room upon which there are two (2) locks, one (1) for each of the appointed members of the board. Each day the absentee ballots shall be placed in the cabinets, boxes, or room under the direction of the appointed members of the board. If an appointed member cannot be present each day, then that member shall designate someone from the member’s political party to be present with the key to the lock at the time the ballots are secured and at the time the lock is opened the next day. The key of each appointed member of the board shall be kept secure in the manner determined by that appointed member.

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