Counting presidential write-ins, and other election certification takeaways
Plus, could former township trustee Taletha Coles be heading back to court over unpaid restitution? And GrowLocal Urban Gardens has a crowdfunding challenges
Sponsorship help for this edition also comes from Purdue Musical Organizations. The 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show is the must-see event of the year! Gather your family and friends, and create lasting memories as you sing along to your favorite songs and marvel at the extraordinary Purdue student talent on display. Get tickets here.
COUNTING PRESIDENTIAL WRITE-INS, AND OTHER ELECTION CERTIFICATION TAKEAWAYS
An additional 34 provisional ballots counted Friday changed some final tallies in Tippecanoe County’s election results, but it didn’t change any of the winners from the Tuesday, Nov. 5, general election.
Here are a few takeaways after the Tippecanoe County Election Board certified results Friday, 10 days after Election Day.
About the ballots: The 34 ballots counted included ones that cast on Election Day but held back as provisionals for several reasons, including clerical errors with voter registration rolls or signature verification. Others provisional ballots were rejected, including 68 from people who weren’t registered, 30 registered in other counties, 17 who moved at least two national election cycles ago but never registered to vote at their new addresses, 28 that were submitted without signatures and one who tried to drop off a Tippecanoe County ballot at a Colorado polling place on Election Night.
Tippecanoe County Council seats settled: With more than 100 provisional and absentee ballots still to be vetted and counted after Election Day, a third at-large seat was still unsettled. Barry Richard, a Republican running for his second term on the Tippecanoe County Council, and Ben Carson, a Democrat running for his first, were the top two vote-getters for three at-large seats up in the election. Richard had 25,293 votes and Carson had 24,793 in the nine-candidate race. The third seat came down to incumbent Republicans John Basham and Kevin Underwood, who were initially separated by 40 votes. After Friday’s additional ballots were counted, 40 votes remained the difference – Basham with 24,395 and Underwood with 24,355.
Turnout notes: Early voting in Tippecanoe County accounted for 59% of the 68,066 votes cast, according to county figures. With 20,723 votes cast between Oct. 8 and Nov. 4, the Tippecanoe County Office Building site set an early voting record for the county, accounting for 30% of the total votes cast in the election.
The cost of the election: $246,583. That’s up from $205,478 in 2020 and $191,252 in 2016, according to county figures.
About that Purdue voting option: Election officials said Friday that work already had started between the county and Purdue to set up polling places in the next general election. The 2024 local election was marred by a late scramble to add an early polling place on campus, after an initial plan had no vote center – before or on Election Day – on the West Lafayette campus. The situation brought a wave of criticism and accusations of voter suppression aimed at Purdue’s voting demographic. Mike Smith, a county election staff member, said a meeting has been set with Purdue Provost Patrick Wolfe “to kind of debrief and move forward.” Smith said: “It's not too early to go ahead and nail down 2026 … so there's no surprises, and everybody knows what's going on.”
The county’s oldest voters: Tippecanoe County had six voters who were at least 100 years old. “One shared that her first presidential vote was for Thomas Dewey in 1944,” Smith said. Dewey, who won Indiana that year, lost that presidential race to Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Write-in votes: According to certified results, 107 entries shared in 499 write-in votes for president in Tippecanoe County. Among them:
83: Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, received the most write-in votes.
79: Peter Sonski, the American Solidarity Party nominee.
41: Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina, who lost to Donald Trump in the Republican primary.
39: Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia, candidates of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
22: Cornel West and Melina Abdullah
19: Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and Purdue president
11: Mike Pence, former Indiana governor and U.S. vice president
9: Gaza, Ceasefire, Free Palestine and other related
7: U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, former Republican presidential nominee
6: Jesus
5: Tom Hoefling and Andy Prior, America’s Party
4: Ron DeSantis, Florida governor
3: U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican
3: God
3: Kanye West, rapper and record producer
Among those getting at least one write-in vote for president: Country star Willie Nelson; Purdue coach Matt Painter; U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders; Vivek Ramaswamy, former candidate for the Republican nomination; conservative radio host Tony Katz; “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe; former NFL quarterback Michael Vick; Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin; first baseman Anthony Rizzo; Kermit the Frog; country star Johnny Cash; former President John Quincy Adams; actor Keifer Sutherland; MAD magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman; Washington Wizards shooting guard Jordan Poole; and They All Suck.
The certified results: Here’s a look at Tippecanoe County results.
More from Election Day:
RESTITUTION SO FAR FROM FORMER TRUSTEE TALETHA COLES? $20, PROSECUTOR SAYS
Since Taletha Coles, former Fairfield Township trusteed, finished a jail sentence this summer for theft and fraud while in office, she’s paid a grand total of $20 toward the $42,380 the court ordered her to repay the township, court documents filed this week contend.
The Tippecanoe County prosecutor asked the court Wednesday for a status hearing to address restitution Coles was supposed to start paying when she was done with a sentence handed down in January.
According to court records, Coles was released from community corrections on Aug. 6. This week’s court filing indicated that the probation office told prosecutors that Coles “is presently working.”
According to the court filing, Coles was ordered to pay “no less than 20%” of her income to restitution “until paid in full.”
As of Friday afternoon, no hearing had been set.
Coles did not immediately respond for comment.
Coles, elected as township trustee in 2018, was indicted in 2022 on more than 40 counts of theft, tax exemption fraud and official misconduct. She pleaded guilty in 2023 to four of those charges.
In January, Coles was sentenced to 180 days in the Tippecanoe County Jail and another six months with Tippecanoe County Community Corrections, followed by three years with a mix of supervised and unsupervised probation. The four-year sentence also included $42,380 in restitution and 180 hours of community service.
Even with the guilty plea, pre-sentencing documents showed that Coles continued to contend she was the victim of sabotage by foes and former allies and bad information about what she could and couldn’t do with township money and property.
Coles was indicted a month after she resigned rather than face the final step of a lengthy procedure by township and county officials to oust her from her position, after years of butting heads with township board members, employees and residents. The charges came after a May 2022 raid on township offices, maintenance barns and Coles’ north end Lafayette home by Indiana State Police and a lengthy audit by the State Board of Accounts.
Her restitution agreement detailed a series of charges at home improvement stores, a consignment shop, massage and pedicure shops and for online business and motivational training subscriptions. She also was tied to $138,183 – which includes an investigation bill of $84,000 – listed in the State Board of Accounts audit.
GROWLOCAL LOOKS TO GROW VIA CROWDFUNDING CHALLENGE AGAIN
GrowLocal Urban Gardens Network, a collection of 20 community gardens tucked into Lafayette neighborhoods, is participating in the 10th annual #SeedMoneyChallenge, a 30-day national fundraising campaign running from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15.
“We could really use your support,” Margy Deverall, a member of the GrowLocal Urban Gardens Network, said this week. “In addition to keeping 100% of the funds we raise from individual donations, we have a chance to win challenge grants from SeedMoney based on how much we raise over the course of the 30-day challenge period.”
Money raised helps provide seeds, plants, fertilizer, supplies, raised beds, garden soil and mulch to all the gardens, maps and signage for 10 sharing garden locations in Spanish and English, along with garden programming, purchase shared tools and build accessible raised beds. GrowLocal partners include churches, K-12 schools, community centers, social service agencies, non-profits and more, sharing produce from 10 sharing gardens and supplying local food pantries and Food Finders Food Bank with any excess.
Deverall said: “GrowLocal’s mission since 2015: Building, nourishing and nurturing community through urban gardens.”
How you can help: Find the campaign and the 20 gardens in the GrowLocal network at https://donate.seedmoney.org/10774/growlocal-urban-gardens-network
Thanks for support from Purdue Musical Organizations, presenting the 91st Annual Purdue Christmas Show, Dec. 7-8. Get tickets here.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
Just wanted to say how much I like the mural Zach Medlar did for the Erie Street Community Garden. Lovely image
I don't know how to professional express my displeasure about write-ins on ballots.