The St. Joseph County Election Board today (Friday) removed five Democratic candidates from the November ballot because they failed to timely file a required candidate form with the clerk’s office.
The three-member Republican-majority election board voted to remove from the ballot Autumn Kaylor for county auditor, Dan Caruso for New Carlisle Town Council, Ron Dewinter for Penn Township Board, and Christy Donlon and Marcy Kauffman for Walkerton Town Council.
County Republican party chair Jackie Horvath had filed challenges to their candidacies, saying they had not filed their formal declarations of candidacy, called Candidate Form 31, within 72 hours of their party caucus picking them as candidates, as required by state law.
County Democratic Party Chair Don Westerhausen released a statement calling the move “unnecessary and undemocratic.” He said the candidates, many of them running for office for the first time, had asked Republican Clerk Amy Rolfes’ staff if they’d filed everything correctly and they were assured they had.
Westerhausen said the party will re-file forms for the candidates, as allowed by Indiana law, and he’s confident they’ll prevail and appear on the ballot.
