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Eckert to remain on city ballot
UPDATE, 11 a.m. Friday: Republican Party officials have officially challenged the candidacies of Democratic nominees Steve Snyder (Fourth Ward) and Dave Murray (At-large).
A recent challenge of one candidate for the Greencastle City Council will not stand. However, challenges to two other candidates are likely to be made on the same grounds.
On Wednesday, the Putnam County Election Board conducted a hearing in which Republican Cody Eckert’s candidacy for the Fourth Ward council seat was challenged on two different fronts.
In both cases, the three-member board ruled that Eckert is eligible to remain on the ballot.
In the aftermath of the hearing, though, representatives of the local Republican Party indicated they plan to challenge Democratic candidates Steve Snyder and Dave Murray on some of the same procedural grounds.
The deadline to file such an appeal is noon this Friday, Aug. 23.
The first challenge considered on Wednesday was on the grounds of Eckert’s residency.
Eckert had formerly lived in Hendricks County and moved to Greencastle at some point in late 2018.
Democratic Party Chairman Kim Fidler challenged his candidacy based on the fact that at the time of last year’s November election, Eckert was living in Putnam County yet cast a vote in Hendricks County.
The idea was that Eckert had either not lived in the Greencastle district for the required one year before the upcoming municipal election (Nov. 5) or he had potentially committed voter fraud by voting in the wrong county.
However, Eckert and attorney Scott Bieniek provided documentation that Eckert’s lease in Plainfield had expired on Oct. 31, 2018 and he and boyfriend Joel Bottom had signed a lease on an apartment in Greencastle on Oct. 17.
This would have fallen during the point at which voter registration was closed, which is a special case in which a voter can return to his or her old district to cast a ballot since no other possibility is open.
There is some question as to whether election officials filled out the proper form regarding this action, but that is a Hendricks County matter and was not for the board to consider on Wednesday.
Election Board members Jack Sutton and Clerk Heather Gilbert voted to reject the challenge. Board member June Wolfe abstained from this vote.
The second matter proved to be a bit more thorny.
In researching Eckert’s candidacy, Fidler found that Republican Chairman Beau Baird had properly filed the ballot vacancy by the July 3 deadline. She, however, found that the required associated paperwork — minutes from the meeting in which Eckert was appointed — was not filed until July 9.
“Greencastle residents would be fortunate to have Cody as a candidate in the future,” Fidler said. “We just need to make sure the laws have been followed in this instance.”
Baird, however, chalked this up to a clerical error.
“I believe there was some confusion about the date timeline that it was claimed that it was filed on July 9,” Baird said. “The state form required to be filed was filed on time. There was a clerical error and the minutes were not attached.”
He then raised another point regarding Democrat candidates Snyder and Murray.
“As of 24 hours ago, the same forms had not been filed for the Democrat candidates,” Baird said. “So we reserve the right to challenge.”
Like Eckert, Snider and Murray did not appear on the primary ballot. They were appointed by the party. However, the local Democratic Party has a different procedure for such vacancies, in that Fidler is authorized by the party to unilaterally fill such vacancies without a meeting or caucus.
Fidler has a letter on file with the Voter Registration Office stating she has this right. After reviewing the law and consulting the Election Division at the state, Gilbert said the letter has to be attached to every filing.
She apologized that neither she nor Voter Registration Clerk Stacia Hathaway were aware of the law.
“As the clerk, this is an error on my part,” Gilbert said. “This is a fairly new law. This is not something Stacia was aware of. This is not something I was aware of.
“This is an error on my part and I always own up to my mistakes,” she added. “I apologize to the community.”
With the specter of this mutually-assured destruction now looming, Bieniek requested that the case not turn on a clerical error.
“That is not what ballot access laws are about,” Bieniek said. “It is not meant to lead to the harsh result, which would be the removal of three candidates from the ballot of Greencastle.”
The attorney went on to point out that a similar issue occurred in 2010 when former Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann ran for the Indiana House of Representatives for the first time.
Ellspermann filed the main paperwork, but some of the supporting documents were omitted until after the deadline.
In that case, the State Board of Elections, a trial court and the Indiana Court of Appeals all upheld Ellspermann’s right to remain on the ballot.
“There’s nothing malicious about this,” Bieniek said of the potential counter-challenge. “We believe this is a technical violation that shouldn’t be held against either party. It would be a whole lot easier if as parties we could just file a general authorization that’s on file every time. But the statute is not written like that.”
With these arguments in front of them, the Election Board members were asked a second time to rule on Eckert’s eligibility.
This time, it was Wolfe, the Democratic appointee to the board, who spoke first.
Wolfe first pointed out how convoluted and arcane the election law was regarding these matters. She said she found the laws rather confusing.
“I am used to research and looking things up,” Wolfe said. “I agree I want people to have choice for the election.
“I move we retain him on the ballot.”
The matter was seconded and then all three members voted to keep Eckert on the November ballot.
While the ruling would appear to put the matter to rest, there does remain the possibility that Fidler and the Democrats could challenge the ruling to a trial court.
While Fidler has not expressed an intent to do so, the looming deadline for a challenge made Bieniek — who is also secretary of the county Republican board — feel the GOP had no choice but to challenge the other two candidates.
He said it’s not that the GOP wants Snyder or Murray removed from the ballot, but failure to file a challenge would also leave the Republicans without recourse should the Democrats file an appeal.
“We want to put it before the Election Board and have them deny it just like they did last night,” Bieniek told the Banner Graphic Friday morning. “You won’t see me jumping up and down trying to backtrack on what I said last night.
“Let’s have a good race,” he added. “Let’s let the voters decide.”
As of Thursday afternoon, there was no official word that the new challenges had been filed.