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DEERY: APPEAL’S TIMELY, URGES SUPREME COURT TO HEAR OVERTURNED SENATE DIST. 23 RESULTS
With the final salvo in state Sen. Spencer Deery’s appeal of his overturned victory in the Senate District 23 Republican primary filed Monday morning, the wait started to see whether the Indiana Supreme Court would accept the case and have a say on whether Deery or challenger Paula Copenhaver belong on the November general election ballot.
Deery’s attorneys filed a reply Monday that pushed back on Copenhaver’s contention – filed with the state’s high court Friday – that the state senator’s appeal comes too late in the process, given state-mandated deadlines to certify ballots after the May 5 primary.
Deery’s attorneys argued Monday that Copenhaver’s attempt to sidestep essential questions raised in an appeal of Aug. 10 Indiana Recount Commission decisions – should voter intent on six ballots cast for Deery be wiped out by clerical errors by election staff in three of the district’s six counties? – by raising deadline issues shouldn’t hold up.
They argued in Monday’s filing that the appeal amounts to an emergency that warrants an Indiana Supreme Court review into whether the Indiana Recount Commission made errors that could send the incorrect Republican nominee to the November ballot.
“Indiana has a history of commitment to free and fair elections, of making sure every vote is counted and ensuring that voters are heard,” Deery’s attorneys argued in Monday’s filing. “Voting is the bedrock upon which our country has been built. There are few substantial legal questions of greater public interest than those involving the fundamental right to vote and having that vote counted. Moreover, because of looming election deadlines, an emergency exists requiring speedy determination.”
