Still waiting, still wrangling in Senate District 23 recount
Copenhaver and Deery camps push for subpoenas as Indiana Recount Commission expects to get recount reports later in July.
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STILL WAITING, STILL WRANGLING IN SENATE DISTRICT 23 RECOUNT
Physical reviews of ballots across the six counties in Indiana Senate District 23 ended June 25, in a recount of state Sen. Spencer Deery’s three-vote victory over Republican challenger and President Donald Trump-backed Paula Copenhaver in the May primary election.
Secretary of State Diego Morales said in a release last week that the Indiana Recount Commission expected a report from the State Board of Accounts in Senate District 23 and two other races at a meeting he expected would be scheduled later in July.
As of Friday, that date hadn’t been announced.
The preliminary results during the recount didn’t show a change in the 6,337-6,334 tally reported after the initial count.
But a series of filings by both campaigns have raised questions they say need to be settled before the Indiana Recount Commission finishes its work.
Still in play are challenges of ballots in several precincts in the six counties. Example: Copenhaver’s backers disputed all ballots cast in six of the 32 Tippecanoe County precincts, each containing some of the 14 voters her campaign singled out and accused of tampering with the primary by illegally crossing over and pulling Republican ballots.
In an order dated June 19, Norris extend the deadline, from June 26 to July 17, for either side to weigh in on Copenhaver’s demand to subpoena some voters to explain their choices in the May 5 primary. The new schedule then gives each side until July 24 to respond to one another. The order says the Indiana Recount Commission would schedule a hearing on the demand for subpoenas after those filing deadlines.
But newly posted motions by Copenhaver had her attorneys calling again for the Indiana Recount Commission to issue the subpoenas before the recount is complete, rather than in a separate effort to contest the results of the primary.
On July 1, William Bock, an Indianapolis-based attorney representing Copenhaver, filed a motion that argued that determining whether voters who posted on social media or commented in news accounts that that pulled Republican ballots despite typically voting for Democratic candidates violated a state election law would be pertinent to do early in the process.
