The Monroe County Election Board will investigate whether a candidate for Bloomington City Council lives in the district in which he’s running.
The three-member board voted unanimously Thursday on a motion to investigate the residency of David Wolfe Bender (D), an Indiana University undergraduate student running for the District 6 seat. The vote followed a complaint by William Ellis, vice chair of the Monroe County Republican Party, calling into question whether Bender lives in District 6.
The board’s decision to open an investigation indicates there is “substantial reason to believe an election law violation has occurred,” according to Indiana Code.
Ellis’ complaint questions whether Bender lives at 304 E. 16th St., the address listed as Bender’s residence on his candidate filing form. The complaint was based on a Feb. 17 Indiana Daily Student article citing an anonymous resident and neighbors who say Bender does not live there.
The period to request a candidate’s name be removed from the ballot has passed — but Ellis said of the IDS article, “I think it needs to be investigated and find out exactly whether it’s true or not.”
Bender’s filing paperwork lists his mailing address as being in the 600 block of South Henderson Street, which is in District 4, not 6.
According to his voter registration file, Bender was registered at the Henderson Street from Sept. 1, 2021, to Jan. 30, 2023. He changed his registration address to the 16th Street address on Jan. 20, 2023 — 11 days before he filed for the District 6 seat.
Donovan Garletts, the chair of the board and its sole Republican member, said at the Thursday meeting that he had inquired about Bender’s residency privately, not in his capacity as a board member.
“I was very interested after that article that someone would potentially do this and seemingly in such an open manner,” Garletts said. “I think it is important for us to have this discussion in a public setting based on the evidence at hand.”
Garletts cited email correspondences with the tenants of 304 E. 16th St. and the owner of the property indicating they weren’t aware of Bender living at that address as well as the first page of a lease from one of the tenants that did not have Bender’s name on it. Those documents weren’t made public.
Board member and Monroe County Democratic Party Chair David Henry said those documents were shared with the rest of the board minutes before the start of its meeting. He also noted the partial copy shared with Garletts did not include signatures or any covenants that might indicate whether a sublease could be executed.
“What it comes down to is: there are a lot more questions than answers about his candidacy,” Henry told WFIU/WTIU News. “The board has moved to formally investigate that candidacy, which gives it some additional power to investigate, such as subpoena, to bring and compel information forward to help us understand what the circumstances are in that race.”
Some of those questions, Henry said, pertain to Indiana code. For example, there are many potential actions the board can take depending on the findings of its investigation. One outcome, if they determine a violation of election law occurred, would be to make a recommendation to the prosecutor’s office.
The board could also find no fault or merely issue Bender a warning.
“We as a community need to remember that just because someone had a suspicion in the IDS and just because the Republican Party had a suspicion and brought it and surfaced it, what has to happen here is a lawful process,” Henry said. “A question has been raised about his residency and we’re going to do the right work to figure that out.”
The deadline to withdraw from the primary election was Feb. 10 and Bender is the only candidate running in District 6, meaning he’s almost guaranteed to win the Democratic primary in May.
A nominee may still withdraw from the November municipal election, however. The deadline to do so this year is July 17.
Following of the board’s approval of the motion for an investigation, another motion by board member and Monroe County Clerk Nicole Brown to recess instead of adjourning was passed. Doing so will allow the board to reconvene for a hearing before their next regular meeting on April 6. As of Friday, a hearing date had not been set — but Henry said the board intends to reconvene next week.
“Next week is very much about the process and not additional information or evidence at this point,” Henry said. “It’s really about just assuring that we are setting ourselves up for success to do the right thing by the community and make sure that the election is properly administrated.”
Henry said the board has not yet received any correspondence from Bender.
Bloomington’s sixth district is the city’s most central one and is predominantly made up of students. Bender has advocated for student representation on city council.
Bender declined to comment on the allegations when approached by WFIU/WTIU News.
