Final hearing Monday on disputed ballots in Senate District 23 recount

The Indiana Recount Commission will consider at least 13 ballots Trump-backed challenger Paula Copenhaver wants tossed in her three-vote GOP primary loss to state Sen. Spencer Deery.

Aug 10, 2026

Spencer Deery, left, and Paula Copenhaver. (Photos: Indiana Senate and Dave Bangert)

A final hearing over disputed ballots in a recount of the Indiana Senate District 23 Republican primary – including 11 Trump-backed candidate Paula Copenhaver says were cast to tamper with the election and that she wants the Indiana Recount Commission to wipe out – will start Monday morning in Indianapolis, based on details laid out last week in an order by Evan Norris, a Zionsville-based attorney overseeing the recount.

After an Indiana Recount Commission hearing July 28, state Sen. Spencer Deery, a West Lafayette Republican, maintained a three-vote victory over Copenhaver, a former Fountain County clerk and chair of the Fountain County Republican Party, in the May Republican primary.

Deery’s margin stands at 6,337-6,334, the same as it was after six county election boards certified results in May.

Not settled, yet, are votes Copenhaver disputes for various reasons.

Last week, a split Indiana Recount Commission voted 2-1 against Copenhaver’s demand to subpoena 11 voters – including nine from Tippecanoe County – she accused of crossing over to pull a Republican ballot to vote against her despite “boasting” on social media or in news articles that they typically vote for Democrats. Even without sworn testimony by the 11 voters accused of tampering, though, Copenhaver’s attorney, Bill Bock, is arguing that the Indiana Recount Commission has broad powers to wipe any of those from Deery’s totals if they’re shown to come from independents or liberally-leaning voters who technically shouldn’t have been allowed to vote in the Republican primary – even if voters didn’t understand they were going against a little-used provision in election law.

Those 11 votes are among roughly 275 flagged in June by Copenhaver’s campaign during the recount process. Bock said last week that the campaign disputed all ballots cast for Deery in those 11 voters’ precincts to make sure they were included in the Indiana Recount Commission’s final review.

Deery’s attorney, Samantha DeWester, has argued that Copenhaver’s claims are not only unprecedented, but also that the threat against guarantees of ballot secrecy is “disgusting.”

The Indiana Recount Commission also is scheduled to consider a pair of votes in Tippecanoe and Parke counties that Bock argued weren’t handled properly by county election officials. (Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush fought back against that allegation a day later.)

The Indiana Recount Commission will meet at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 10, in Conference Room C of Government Center South, 302 W. Washington St. in Indianapolis, just across from the Statehouse.

The public hearing also will be available live at www.youtube.com/@SOSDiegoMorales.

Ballots across the state, including in Senate District 23, are scheduled to be finalized by Aug. 21.

The Republican winner of the recount in Senate District 23 will face Democrat David Sanders and independent candidate Joshua Brant in a district that includes parts of Tippecanoe, Montgomery, Fountain, Warren, Parke and Vermillion counties.