Battle for disputed Indiana election fueled by redistricting hinges on ballots missing signatures

Indiana has only days left to resolve disputed ballots that will decide the winner of a state senate seat currently held by an incumbent who bucked President Donald Trump’s demands for a last-minute gerrymander before the midterms.

State Sen. Spencer Deery (R) is one of a handful of Indiana lawmakers who grit their teeth and killed Trump’s congressional gerrymander plan for their state, despite an onslaught of intimidation and harassment from Trump and his supporters. Most of them fell to Trump-backed challengers in the primary. Now Deery is accusing fellow Republicans of wrongly rejecting valid votes ahead of a Friday deadline to declare a winner. 

Deery held off challenger Paula Copenhaver, a staff member for a state lawmaker who strongly supported the gerrymander, by just three votes. But Copenhaver swiftly challenged the results, asking for a recount. 

Under Indiana law, a three-member commission convened to oversee the recount, made up of one Republican, one Democrat and a commission chair: Secretary of State Diego Morales (R), an election denier who claimed the 2020 presidential election outcome was “questionable.”

Morales, who made no secret of his support for Trump’s gerrymander, spoke in support of the plan at a rally last year. 

“Zero hesitation, zero backing down — because the stakes are too high,” he told the crowd. “Show up. Stand up for fair maps. Stand up for President Trump and our Hoosier State.”

With only about 15 disputed votes in question, the recount commission reversed the election results, this time declaring Copenhaver the winner by three votes. The difference came down to Republicans throwing out ballots based on technicalities such as missing county clerk signatures or missing initials from election officials. The Democrat on the commission dissented.

Deery blasted the two GOP members of the commission, accusing them of tossing out ballots “to undermine the will of voters” in an effort to further “the president’s political goals.” 

“This was not a meeting intended to find fairness; it was designed to find votes,” Deery said in a social media post. “Indiana law makes clear that valid votes should not be silenced simply because of minor errors made by clerks — clerks who were supposed to be trained by the chairman of this very commission.”

It’s now up to Indiana appellate courts to make the final decision. Deery has appealed the recount commission’s decision to the Indiana Court of Appeals, arguing that ballots should not be thrown out because of mistakes beyond the voters’ control.

The court will have to move quickly — under Indiana state law, the final results must be certified by Friday so the general election ballots can be printed on time.