GARY, Ind. — It was midnight and the nation was still awaiting results from the Indiana primary.
The hold up was Lake County in the northwest corner of the state. There were questions and accusations about “Chicago-style” politics.
“They wanted to put Barack Obama over the top with Lake County’s vote and games were being played like in the 1950s,” said Thomas McDermott, mayor of the Lake County town of Hammond who endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The late returns came in a primary that attracted record voter turnout across the state. Many counties ran short of Democratic ballots and had to print extras, which had to be counted by hand. In Lake County alone, voters cast 11,500 early ballots — about three times the number cast in the 2004 primary.
McDermott and Gary Mayor Rudy Clay — both Democrats who lead the county’s two largest cities — sniped at each other in appearances on CNN, with McDermott challenging Clay on why machine totals weren’t available earlier. Clay, an Obama supporter who is the county’s Democratic chairman, denied any misdeeds and defended the county’s handling of the vote tally. Obama won the county, but not by enough to deny Clinton the state.
“Anytime you vote an additional 11,000 early voters with the same number of staff that you have all the time, I think that the election board staff did a tremendous job,” he said.
Lake County election administrator Michelle Fajman said local officials would review their process.
