Fraud-free voting pushed in election

INDIANAPOLIS -- With one week left before Election Day, state and federal officials promised a vigilant watch for voter fraud in Indiana and swift investigation of any alleged wrongdoing.\n"In Indiana, to my knowledge, there is no widespread fraud, there is no anticipation of widespread fraud," Secretary of State Sue Anne Gilroy said Tuesday during a news conference with Susan Brooks, the U.S. attorney for the state's southern district.\n"We just want Indiana to continue to be ahead of the curve and be a place where our voters know our elections are free and fair, and that those who violate election law will in fact be investigated and be prosecuted."\nAs in past years, state election officials will work with U.S. attorneys and the FBI to receive complaints of election fraud and investigate them.\nBrooks said she and Gilroy wanted to underscore and publicize that commitment heading into Tuesday's election.\nShe said authorities would pursue cases of impersonating voters in order to cast ballots, altering or failing to count votes, threatening people not to vote, giving false information to election officers, paying people to vote, voting more than once, or voting without being U.S. citizens.\n"These are all federal felonies, and upon investigation, they will be prosecuted in federal court," Brooks said.\nThe news conference was held on the same day President Bush signed legislation revamping the nation's voting system and guarding against the kinds of errors that threw his own election into dispute two years ago.\nUnder the Help America Vote Act, states will receive $3.9 billion in federal money over the next three years to replace outdated punch-card and lever voting machines or improve voter education and poll-worker taining.\nThe new law's protections against voting error will not affect next week's balloting but are scheduled to be mostly implemented in time for the 2004 congressional and presidential vote.