Menu
Congressional challenger Charles Bookwalter booted from ballot
Barring a court intervention, a Thorntown Republican will not appear on the May 3 primary as a candidate for U.S. Congress.
In a Friday decision, the Indiana Election Commission voted to uphold two challenges to the candidacy of T. Charles Bookwalter, thus denying ballot access to the only challenger to Congressman Jim Baird (R-Greencastle).
The challenges were filed by Danville attorney Greg Irby, who serves as vice president of the Hendricks County Republican Party and Greencastle City Councilman Cody Eckert, a former legislative assistant in the Indiana House of Representatives.
However, Eckert briefly told the commission the two cases were being consolidated, with Irby briefly giving the presentation.
The basis for the challenge was the recently-amended Indiana Code 3-8-2-7, which states that candidates for U.S. Congress who wish to run on a major party ticket must file a declaration that they “affiliate” with the party by virtue of having voted for that party in the last two primaries or by obtaining a certification from the party’s chairperson from the candidate’s county of residence.
In Bookwalter’s case, he meets neither of the criteria.
“I did not vote in the 2020 primary because I did not have anyone to vote for,” Bookwalter told the Commission, “and by that I mean my congressional rep and President Trump ran unopposed.”
As for the second, Bookwalter was unable to obtain the approval of Boone County GOP Chairman Deborah Ottinger.
“The GOP chair in Boone County, where I reside, refused to certify that I’m a party member despite my having provided her with an affidavit detailing my lifelong support for the party and living its professed core values,” Bookwalter said.
He listed a number of these, including voting Republican in “nearly every general election since 2000,” working on campaigns in the past and having financially supported the party.
“There is no question that I’m a Republican,” Bookwalter said.
Taking it a step further, Bookwalter even noted that he remains on the ballot in Boone County to serve as one of his community’s delegates to the state Republican convention, yet he’s not Republican enough to run for Congress.
“The GOP chair acknowledged my conservative bona fides, encouraged me to seek a different office and suggested that I wait until 2024,” Bookwalter said. “She said she would not provide the certifications because I had not voted in two primaries. She also stated her support for the incumbent and questioned why I would want to primary him.”
Bookwalter also noted that neither of the challenges against him alleged that he was not a Republican, simply that he did not strictly comply with I.C. 3-8-2-7.
Calling the law unconstitutional, Bookwalter said the law has created a four-year waiting period for would-be candidates, which he said adds to “a cycle of disenfranchisement.”
“When professional politicians run unopposed there is no reason to vote in the primary,” Bookwalter said. “Then when the professional politicians create a crisis – which they always do – citizens have no recourse. Justice delayed is justice denied.”
He went on to note that when another candidate was denied a spot on the ballot two years ago based on the former one-primary rule, he was told he simply had to wait two years. However, that time period has now stretched.
“This is creating a democracy where only professional politicians can get on the ballot,” Bookwalter said. “Who’s to say that by 2024, the legislature will not rewrite I.C. 3-8-2-7 from a two-primary rule into a three-primary rule?”
“I’m here today to ask you not to violate the Constitution,” Bookwalter closed to a round of applause from the audience.
However, Commission Chairman Paul Okeson said that while he might have some sympathy with Bookwalter’s argument, the would-be challenger was asking the Commission to do something outside its purview.
“Whether I agree or disagree with the rightness or wrongness of what the General Assembly across the street at the Statehouse decided is not for me to say,” Okeson said. “Agree or disagree, that’s the threshold. You didn’t meet it.”
The chairman then made the motion to uphold the challenges.
“I appreciate the argument that you are making,” Okeson said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a foundation upon which to agree with you.”
The Commission voted without dissent to uphold the challenges.
While Bookwalter did not find support from the Commission, the audience was a different story. Aside from the applause following Bookwalter’s statement, there were also catcalls from the peanut gallery following the Commission’s decision.
“Shame,” one man shouted, “shame on all of you.”
While Bookwalter has exhausted his chance to appeal to the IEC, his fight may not be over. While the Bookwalter campaign had not responded to a Banner Graphic request for comment as of late Monday afternoon, a statement from last week indicates there could be a legal challenge.
“If one or more of the challenges is upheld, Bookwalter plans to seek an order from the court allowing him to remain on the ballot, on the basis that I.C. 3-8-2-7(a)(4), as amended, unconstitutionally burdens his rights, and the rights of voters, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments,” the statement read.