Indiana’s top elections official faces voter fraud charges

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Indiana’s top elections official goes on trial this week for, among other things, voter fraud charges.

Secretary of State Charlie White, who has insisted he is not guilty of the seven felony counts against him -- including perjury and theft -- arrived Tuesday morning at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Noblesville, Ind. He has refused media requests to be interviewed.

The trial is expected to last through the week.

Duties of a secretary of state vary from state to state, but White’s responsibilities include being the top state official who deals with elections.

He’s accused of using his ex-wife’s address on his form to register to vote in May 2010; at the time, the prosecution alleges, White actually had a condominium, where his then-fiancée was living.

White is also accused of collecting his salary as a Fishers Town councilman after he moved out of the district.

White, 42, has defended himself, saying he faced a difficult time in 2010 while raising his 10-year-old son, planning his new marriage and campaigning for the secretary of state’s job.

“He was living out of his car. He literally had a lot of his clothes in his car. He ate out of his car. That’s where most of his possessions were,” White’s ex-wife, Nicole Mills, told the Associated Press in June.

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-- Michael Muskal

June 8, 2011. White faces voter fraud charges in a case that could decide if he remains as the state’s top election official. Credit: Darron Cummings / Associated Press