But in recent years, there's been an aggressive effort to weed out political corruption and clean up elections here and across the state.
Joseph Van Bokkelen, a former U.S. attorney for northwest Indiana who became a federal judge last summer, spent years spearheading high-profile prosecutions, including the former head of the state Democratic Party, the son of an East Chicago, Ind., mayor and Gary City Hall officials.
Last year, a federally mandated statewide purge of the voter rolls resulted in the number of registered Lake County voters being cut by about a third.
And last month, the Supreme Court upheld the state's voter identification law, requiring people to show ID when they cast a ballot.
"That's why everyone was shocked at the idea of voter wrongdoing happening now, especially with the nation watching," said Howey, who has covered Indiana politics for more than two decades.
The run-up to the primary was not without controversy.
Clay spent weeks urging residents to vote for Barack Obama and swore his patronage team would turn out "a tidal wave" of support in Gary for the Illinois senator.
When local schools decided to bus high school seniors to the county courthouse to join in the state's early voting process, some people questioned whether school funds were being used to rally votes for Obama. Clay said that the students weren't told how to vote and that it was merely "a civics lesson."
Thomas M. McDermott Jr., the mayor of neighboring Hammond and a supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, said that after Tuesday's late results, "every phone call, every media interview is asking the same thing: What went wrong with Gary? What went wrong with Lake County?"
"Frankly, I'm embarrassed," McDermott said.
Clay was not. He blamed Tuesday's delay on record voter turnout, which included more than 11,000 early ballots cast in Lake County -- or about triple the number that had to be counted by hand in the 2004 primary.
Besides, Clay said Wednesday, "I'm excited. Barack Obama pulled a large number of votes out of here."
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p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com
Times staff writer Stephen Braun contributed to this report.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
In the spotlight
A look at Gary, Ind., an economically depressed, predominantly African American city:
*--* -- Gary Indiana Race White 10% 86% Black 86% 9% *--*
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Median household income
Gary: $30,200
Indiana: $47,709
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Families below poverty level
Gary: 23%
Indiana: 7%
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*--* -- Gary Indiana Occupation Blue collar 28% 31% White collar 48 54 Service/farm 24 15 *--*
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Median home value ( Owner-occupied)
Gary: $66,408
Indiana: $119,526
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Claritas. Graphics reporting by Scott Wilson
