A judge on Thursday ruled the Republican-run county election board and county clerk must place four Democratic candidates on the Nov. 3 election ballot. The judge ruled the board and clerk Amy Rolfes acted outside the law.
St. Joseph Superior Judge Jenny Pitts-Manier ruled that the evidence shows Rolfes and Republican election board chair John Jurgonski simply told a Rolfes staffer not to place on ballot proofs the four Democratic candidates’ names until the election board made a decision.
But Pitts-Manier ruled there are no laws allowing Jurgonski or Rolfes to do this. She wrote, “The Board and Clerk must immediately take all steps necessary to correct this legal violation.”
The Democratic candidates are Autumn Kaylor for auditor, Dan Caruso and Marcy Kauffman for New Carlisle Town Council, and Christy Donlon for Walkerton Town Council.
County Democratic Party Chair Don Westerhausen says the party feels validated.
“The president of the election board and the clerk herself illegally, behind closed doors, removed people from the ballot," Westerhausen says. "And all we wanted was those people to be put back on the ballot so that the voters of St. Joseph County have a choice in who to elect for those positions.”
