St. Joseph County Election Board

St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chair Don Westerhausen has gone to court to stop the Republican-run election board and clerk's office from keeping four Democratic candidates off the ballot over a candidate paperwork dispute.

St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chair Don Westerhausen says if Republican County Clerk Amy Rolfes won't put four Democrats back on the ballot by Friday's statutory ballot certification deadline, he'll seek a court injunction.

St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chair Don Westerhausen says he met the requirements of election law on Friday when he filed forms with the county election board verifying that he selected four candidates for the Nov. 3 ballot.

St. Joseph County Democratic Party chair Don Westerhausen said Republican Clerk Amy Rolfes' staff told the five Democratic candidates that their paperwork was correct. He vowed to get them returned to the ballot for the Nov. 3 elections.

Primary Election Day is Tuesday. This week, the St. Joseph County Election Board took steps to make sure there are enough poll workers.

St. Joseph County Circuit Court Judge John Broden ruled Thursday that Indiana statutes don't require a political candidate to be in good standing with their party, and that overruling the county election board in Republican Dan Schaetzle's case would be an abuse of the court's discretion.

St. Joseph Circuit Judge John Broden has ruled that the county election board acts as a state, rather than a county, entity, so someone appealing its ruling in court can still receive a fair trial in a county court.

Griffin Nate, communications director for Republican congressman Rudy Yakym, argues that the St. Joseph County Election Board and clerk's officer are biased against their case, so they it moved to Elkhart County for court review of the board's 3-0 vote to let Republican St. Joseph County Council member Dan Schaetzle run as a Republican in the May primary election.

Republicans Griffin Nate and Jackie Horvath, the St. Joseph County party chair, petitioned the county Election Board to keep Republican County Council member Dan Schaetzle off the May primary election ballot because the district and state GOP have ruled he's not in good standing with the party.

Republican St. Joseph County Council member Dan Schaetzle has vowed to run for re-election in the May primary, despite Republicans saying he's not in good standing with the party.