INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Paula Copenhaver upset an incumbent Republican state senator on Monday after a recount threw out several ballots.

Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, had been the presumptive winner of the May primary in Senate District 23, which stretches from western Tippecanoe and Montgomery counties to the Illinois border. At Monday’s hearing, the Indiana Recount Commission, which consists of Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales plus one member from each party, rejected a total of eight ballots cast for Deery because they either lacked the signature of the county clerk or one or both sets of initials from election judges. State law requires absentee ballots to be initialed by both a Republican and a Democratic election judge and bear the signature and the seal of the county clerk. The commission threw out two ballots cast for Copenhaver for the same reason. Deery went into Monday’s hearing with a three-vote lead. The recount means Copenhaver is now the winner, by an identical three-vote margin.

Copenhaver, who is the chair of the Fountain County Republican Party, said it’s unusual to see a recount at all, let alone a recount for a margin this close.

“So far, the better candidate prevailed,” she said. “No hard feelings towards anybody who has supported Senator Deery and at one time, I also supported him. But here we are, on to a new race, and I am asking for the Republicans, and even those who aren’t Republicans to rally around me and get me across the finish line in the election.”

The recount means seven of the eight Republican state senators who voted against redrawing Indiana’s Congressional maps ahead of the midterms and then ran for reelection this year lost their primaries. The lone survivor was Sen. Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute. Senate President pro tempore Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, who also opposed redistricting, announced at the end of July he will not run for another stint in his leadership post when the new Republican Senate caucus is sworn in in November.

Deery’s counsel, Samantha DeWester, said the Recount Commission’s vote disenfranchised voters on a technicality. She said state law gives the commission discretion when there is a problem with a ballot due to errors by election officials rather than by the voters.

“We’re tossing ballots based on the fact that there’s no clerk signature on some of them. But, mind you, they only wanted the ones that were against my client, not theirs,” she said. “It’s always, you default to the intent of the voter, what the voter intended and what the voter wanted and what’s in their best interest, not ‘Oh, now it’s a trifecta.’ Before, it was two initials. Now it’s the stamp, the signature, two initials. But it also says in code pretty clearly, you shouldn’t take a vote away from someone just because of a clerk or an election official erring.”

DeWester said Deery plans to appeal to the Indiana Court of Appeals. She said the courts likely will move quickly due to the short timetable. Mail-in absentee ballots have to be mailed to voters who have applied for one by Sept. 19 and early voting begins on Oct. 6. Copenhaver’s attorney, Bill Bock, said he’s not worried.

“This recount was really about the integrity of the election on multiple levels, and that was our theme today, that some of the absentee ballots had issues,” he said. “They didn’t comply with Indiana law, and it’s important that voters feel secure about how absentee ballots are handled. And so, I think in every case, that the Recount Commission made the right choice.”

If Copenhaver’s recount victory survives the appeals process, she will face Democrat David Sanders in November. Sanders blasted the Recount Commission’s work in a Monday afternoon statement.

“More than four months ago, Paula Copenhaver prematurely declared victory in a race that was not decided until today. It was not a prediction; it was a false statement at the time. Not only did she, with or without merit, attempt to get votes for Spencer Deery discarded, but she also wanted to subpoena voters so they would have to testify about the contents of their secret ballots, thereby endangering the privacy of our election process. The lawyer for Spencer Deery called that attempt “disgusting.” A vicious and deception-filled advertising campaign was run by those supporting Paula Copenhaver against Spencer Deery. Paula Copenhaver sacrificed her integrity by becoming dependent on dark-money Political Action Committees (PACs) without whom she would not have been close enough to achieve victory.

“I offer a different approach to politics with a focus on what I have achieved for the communities in District 23 and what I plan to achieve. I will adhere to the truth to the best of my ability. Bringing accountability and transparency to state government will be a central objective.

“In the general election, I will continue to fight for clean water and against large-scale transfers of water. I will work with communities to defend them against the deployment of large industrial projects over their objections. In particular, I will work to preserve productive farmland. I will continue to advocate for high-quality healthcare, public education, and broadband internet and telephone service for the rural areas of the district. I will also work with veterans to ensure that they receive the benefits that they have earned.”
David Sanders
(D) Candidate for state senate