State Board of Accounts counsel Kendra Leatherman, State Recount Director Phil Sicuso, and attorneys Matthew Kochevar and Brad King, (left to right) review the results of the House District 40 race recount.
(Mia Hilkowitz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
The Indiana Recount Commission on Wednesday confirmed the initial results of two contested House primary races, finding only two miscounted ballots out of thousands.
The recount efforts — which prohibited Secretary of State Diego Morales from certifying the entire state’s May 7 primary election results until they concluded at Wednesday’s meeting — finalized vote totals in House District 40 and House District 49.
The commission’s decision comes three months after the primary for the races despite large margins of victory.
The recount efforts stem out of two Republican primaries for House District races in Hendricks and Elkhart County. Republicans Brian Paasch — who ran against incumbent Rep. Greg Steuerwald for Indiana House District 40 — and Cindi Hajicek — who ran in House District 49 against incumbent Rep. Joanna King — filed recount petitions for their races on May 15. They both filed before election officials in Hendricks and Elkhart counties had finished counting provisional and absentee ballots.
The initial results reported on the Indiana Election Division website show Hajicek got 35% of the vote (2,047 votes), and her opponent received 65% (3,805). After the recount, the State Board of Accounts (SBOA) found only two more votes for Hajicek, bringing the final primary vote to 2,049-3,803.
Additionally, the Indiana Election Division initially reported in May that Paasch received 36.8% of the vote, or 2,050 votes, while his competitor received 63.2%, or 3,519 votes. This number did not change after the recount.
Samantha DeWester, a lawyer representing King and Steuerwald, asked the commission to certify the votes so “we can move forward into November.”
“There weren’t any abnormalities, there weren’t issues, there weren’t stolen ballots, there weren’t any harvested ballots, anything like that,” DeWester said. “We have a very fair election system in Indiana, and I thank everyone who’s recognized that.”
Toward the end of the meeting, commissioner Michael Claytor said he believes the state recount commission needs to meet quicker after a recount is filed.
“I hope to God we don’t have to get together in November,” Claytor said. “I don’t want that to happen. All candidates out there — either lose big or win big. That’s all I’m asking.”
Michelle Harter, a lawyer representing Hajicek and Paasch, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle she had no comment about the outcome of Wednesday’s recount commission meeting.
Hajicek wrote in a Facebook post on July 13 that she would discuss election integrity concerns after the August Recount commission meetings.
“There’s a misconception that a recount is called only for a close race,” Hajicek wrote in the post. “In my case, the recount provided the legal mechanism to obtain information and resolve irregularities.”
Impact of recount efforts
In Indiana, any candidate or state/county political party chairman can file a recount petition, but do not have to meet any conditions. Twelve other states require candidates to be within a specific margin of votes to request a recount, while other states’ recounts are automatically triggered if results are within a specified margin. Indiana does not have this recount trigger.
While Harter went into Wednesday’s meeting with 41 challenges for ballots in Hajicek’s race, she withdrew all of these challenges before the commission had even started reviewing the exhibits. Harter said Hajicek challenged 38 of the ballots because they “lacked full clerk initials” but acknowledged that Indiana code states ballots without initials can be counted if there is no evidence of fraud, tampering or misconduct.
“Reviewing the challenged ballots I do not see any evidence of such misconduct on the face of the ballots,” Harter said.
DeWester, a lawyer representing King and Steuerwald, also withdrew two challenges in Hajicek’s race.
Harter did not challenge any ballots in Paasch’s race.
Indiana Code requires candidates who file for a recount to pay for “all costs of the recount,” including a cash deposit or bond of at least $100. Additionally, because the number of votes cast for the winning candidates and candidates who filed recounts was more than 1% of the total votes cast, if more than 10 precincts needed to be recounted, that bond can increase by $100 per precinct. These payments are deposited in each county’s general fund and cover costs such as paying additional employees and recount commissioners.
State recount director Phil Sicuso said during Wednesday’s meeting Hajicek deposited $2,600 because she contested every precinct. Paasch deposited $100 because he only challenged 10 precincts.
The petitioners can receive partial or full refunds of these deposits if the recount showed significant changes or if election officials determine the petitioner has been nominated or elected. But since neither of these conditions were met, the commission voted to deny the return of these cash deposits to the candidates.
DeWester urged the commission to send these bonds back to the tax funded entities that performed the recounts. That includes the Indiana State Police, Indiana State Board of Accounts, the commission and local clerks.
“I’m still scratching my head at both of these recounts that were won by nearly 30 points in both of them, that the taxpayers have now spent three months waiting on the finale and have funded,” DeWester said during the meeting.
Additionally, the commission voted to allow the Indiana State Police to release all election material it had impounded since the primary for these races.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the 2024 primary election results for races across the state were not available on the secretary of state’s website.
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