WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — The Indiana Recount Commission’s decision to overturn the Republican primary election results in favor of Trump-backed candidate Paula Copenhaver has left voters, and legal experts, asking what this means for the future of Indiana’s elections.
After a four-hour-long hearing on Monday, 10 ballots were ultimately tossed to push Copenhaver into the lead with 6,332, while State Senate District 23 incumbent Spencer Deery fell behind with 6,329.
Although lawyers representing Copenhaver had originally called for a subpoena of voters who publicly stated they’d requested a Republican ballot to vote for Deery despite identifying as Democrats, the commission’s decision came down to arguments over the validity of absentee ballots.
William Bock, an attorney representing Copenhaver, told the commission the tossed votes lacked required reliability markers, which included the signature and seal of the county clerk and the initials of election officials.
Samantha DeWester, an attorney representing Deery, said during the hearing that calling the actions of local elections officials “misconduct” is offensive.
“People who work the polls make mistakes,” DeWester said. “They’re human beings.”
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, associate dean for research and faculty affairs at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law, said the arguments Copenhaver’s team made have been common in themes from national voices who have alleged “voter fraud” in recent elections.
Given that elections are run by humans, Fuentes-Rohwer said mistakes are bound to happen, but to call mistakes in local elections “misconduct” sets a dangerous precedent.
“The bar for these accusations should be really high, because once elections stop mattering, we have nothing,” Fuentes-Rohwer said. “We will at that point have a banana republic.”
After Monday’s hearing, DeWester said Deery plans to appeal the commission’s decision in appellate court. Calls to DeWester on Tuesday for a timeline for the appeal were not returned.
Fuentes-Rohwer said he believes the recount commission was too partisan to make a decision in this case, but he questions whether an appeal could be free of partisanship, too, pointing to President Donald Trump’s disapproval of Deery after a failed statewide redistricting effort in 2025.
“Our secretary of state is in charge of the commission, and to that I say OMG. What in the world are we doing?” Fuentes-Rohwer said. “Spencer Deery is a Republican, and so is the secretary of state, and so is President Trump, but there is a history there, which is not something we’re used to seeing. Play it any way you want, but that is not a good look.”
Combing back through Indiana’s election history, Fuentes-Rohwer said he cannot point to a previous election that encountered a similar process of appeals after a narrow vote margin.
Fuentes-Rohwer said his hope is that the Indiana Recount Commission answers calls for transparency surrounding its decision to toss votes.
“If they believed in democratic values and norms, they would show their work,” Fuentes-Rohwer said. “They could say, ‘Look, we didn’t want to have to do this, but we believe in democracy too much, ergo those votes have to go.'”
Although setting the recount commission hearing took several months after the May primary, Fuentes-Rohwer said he would expect an appeal from Deery to move up to the Indiana Supreme Court to analyze any errors made in the law.
If they want to, Fuentes-Rohwer, judges will be able to speed up the process, knowing that by mid-September absentee ballots will need to begin printing, with early voting around the corner in October.
Despite the rarity for cases to move up to the state’s supreme court, Fuentes-Rohwer said he believes this case should qualify.
“Here’s a state senator who bucked his national party and is given a primary, barely wins, but by the luck of all luck enough votes are removed. And in the commission’s work, we’re supposed to just sit here and say, ‘Well, I guess the law and democracy won,'” Fuentes-Rohwer said. “If that doesn’t make you despondent, or if that doesn’t upset you, than I don’t know what to say.”
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Legal expert questions election integrity after Copenhaver’s successful appeal
Reporting by Jillian Ellison, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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By Jillian Ellison, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
