Recount Commission to release some ballots impounded in contested races

The Indiana Recount Commission is moving forward with two recounts in state legislative races despite large margins of victory.

The panel met for several hours Wednesday, deciding to release some ballots impounded in Elkhart and Hendricks counties after two Republican candidates for Indiana House districts 40 and 49 filed recount petitions.

Republican Brian Paasch ran against incumbent Rep. Greg Steuerwald in the primary for the Indiana House District 40 seat. According to the Indiana Election Division, Steuerwald received 63.2% of the vote, or 3,519 votes, and Paasch received 36.8%, or 2,050 votes. 

Cindi Hajicek ran in House District 49, earning 35% of the vote (2,047 votes), while her opponent, incumbent Rep. Joanna King, received 65% (3,805).

Paasch and Hajicek did not returns calls for comment.

After receiving the petitions, the State Board of Accounts (SBA) ordered the Indiana State Police to impound election material, including ballots and equipment, related to the disputed races in Hendricks and Elkhart counties, Recount Director Philip Sicuso said Wednesday. 

However, both candidates filed petitions for recount May 15 — before election officials in the counties had finished counting provisional and absentee ballots. County election boards can decide whether to count each provisional ballot until 3 p.m. May 17. Election officials from Hendricks and Elkhart counties said at Wednesday’s meeting the early impoundment prevented them from properly certifying the results of both the disputed and undisputed races. 

Local concerns

Elkhart County Clerk Christopher Anderson said the county has approximately 100 provisional and absentee ballots yet to be counted, including ballots from outside House District 49. Anderson said there are 49 races — including the Republican nominee selection for President and state convention delegates — they would not be able to certify. 

“When I look at the not-counting of those ballots, based on turnout, 85% of those voters are going to be Republican ballots,” Anderson said. “You’ve got 85% of those voters have been disenfranchised.” 

Don Hodson, a member of the Hendricks County Election board, said his board had to postpone a meeting to certify votes because they did not know what to do about the impounded ballots. When an attorney for the commission said the board should have been able to still certify results, Hodson pushed back, saying the Hendricks County clerk reached out to the Recount Commission for guidance, but never received a response back.  

“This whole process is causing a lot of confusion,” Hodson said. 

In the coming days, SBA representatives will hand-separate ballots not relevant to the disputed races and release them back to county election officials. 

Michael Claytor, a member of the Recount Commission, expressed his concern that continuing to impound the uncounted ballots would disenfranchise voters. He proposed having the commission release all ballots temporarily for 48 hours so the counties could certify the results. 

“I’m going to assume we’re not going to allow the board of accounts to original-count provisional ballots, they can only recount,” he said. “We’re going to have people lose their franchise because an early impoundment was settled. That offends me quite frankly.” 

This story has been updated to correct the number of votes that Hajicek received.