Recount filed by write-in candidate for Monroe County council, with no chance to change outcome

Joe Davis, a write-in candidate for a Monroe County council at-large seat in the Nov. 5 election, has filed the paperwork with the circuit court to ask for a recount.

Even if the recount were to take place, it would not change the outcome of the race, which put incumbent Democrats Trent Deckard and Cheryl Munson in two of the seats, and another Democrat, David Henry, in the third seat.

Davis received 328 confirmed write-in votes. Another 463 write-in votes were rejected. If all of the rejected write-ins, on inspection during the recount process, were determined to have been for Davis, that would give Davis 791 votes.

That’s about 24,000 fewer votes than third-place candidate David Henry.

The at-large county council seats go to the top three vote getters in the pick-up-to-three type race. There were no Republicans on the ballot.

What might stand in the way of a recount is the requirement that Davis post a $7,400 deposit or bond, which is required under Indiana state election law.

Monroe County circuit judge Kara Krothe ordered that the $7,400 deposit or bond be posted within 14 days of her Nov. 20, 2024 order.

Davis has filed for a waiver of the court filing fee, which is normally $157, and received the waiver, based on insufficient income to pay it.

The amount for the required deposit, which might seem strange at first glance, is based on the number of precincts in Monroe County, which is 83.

For a race like this year’s at-large county council race, where the difference in votes between winner and petitioner is more than 1 percent of the vote total, state law says that the minimum deposit is $100—with another $100 added for each precinct more than 10.

For Monroe County, that means the starting figure is $100, which covers 10 precincts, but for each precinct more than 10, which is 73, another $100 is added. That works out to $7,400.

Last Monday evening (Nov. 19), Davis told The B Square that he is mainly interested in looking at the ballots with rejected write-ins for his race, to understand why they were rejected. That is, he is not looking for the recount to change the outcome.

In some states, the paper ballots themselves are public records and could be requested under the state’s applicable laws on freedom of information.

But in the state of Indiana, the relevant statute looks like it keeps ballots explicitly confidential.

The section of Indiana state election law on election materials  says that after the provisional ballots are adjudicated, all the election materials become subject to inspection and copying.

But there is an explicit carve-out for ballots. The carve-out from the general principle that all election materials become public records reads: “except for ballots and provisional ballots, which remain confidential.”

Davis’s 328 write-in votes are comparable to Janna Arthur’s 324 write-ins for the same office in 2020. Also in 2020, Randy Paul’s write-in effort for District 2 county commissioner garnered him 268 votes.