By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
June 11, 2026
On the eve of the pre-recount inspection for ballots cast in the Republican Senate District 15 primary held in May, Indiana Recount Commission member Paul O. Mullin has recused himself from the proceedings.
Mullin’s decision to step aside came after state Sen. Liz Brown, the incumbent in Indiana Senate District 15, filed a motion seeking his recusal. Brown said to preserve the fairness and integrity of the recount, Mullins should not participate, because he and his law firm, Lewis and Wilkins in Indianapolis, had both contributed to the campaign of her opponent, Darren Vogt, during the hard-fought primary battle.
In her motion, Brown said Vogt was joining her in asking Mullin to voluntarily remove himself from the recount. Also, she asserted she was not accusing Mullin of “bad faith.”
“The question is whether a reasonable observer, knowing that a Commissioner and his firm gave to one candidate and nothing to the opposing candidate, would have confidence in the fairness of the proceeding,” Brown said in her motion. “The answer is no.”
According to the exhibits included with Brown’s motion, Mullin had donated $2,000 to Vogt’s campaign and his law firm gave $1,000.
Mullin sent the co-directors of the Indiana Election Division, Joseph McLain and Angela Nussmeyer, a letter on Wednesday naming Mark Wynn as his proxy to serve on the Recount Commission for the Senate District 15 recount process. In the letter, Mullin did not directly address Brown’s concerns. Instead, he specified that he would continue to participate in the recounts covering the GOP primaries for Senate District 23 and House District 57, while Wynn’s appointment was limited to Brown-Vogt race.
Wynn, an attorney in private practice in Madison, has served on the Recount Commission in past years. He has experience with recounts, overseeing the process as a commissioner and, at other times, representing clients in recount proceedings.
Currently, Wynn is representing a client in a recount of an Allen County commissioner race. Since that is a local contest, the Recount Commission will not be involved in any of the proceedings.
Vogt filed the petition for a recount after he lost to Brown by 14 votes. Brown, who is seeking her fourth term in the Indiana Senate, won the GOP nomination for Senate District 15, which represents Allen County.
Recount Director Evan Norris issued an order Wednesday saying the pre-recount inspections scheduled in that district for Thursday and Friday would proceed.
This is the second recusal from the Recount Commission that has been sought this year.
In May, Democrat Rep. Ed DeLaney, of Indianapolis, publicly called on Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales to step aside if the Senate District 23 was subject to a recount. Morales, who also serves as chair of the Indiana Recount Commission as part of his official duties, had supported Paula Copenhaver, who also had been endorsed by President Donald Trump, in the GOP primary race against West Lafayette Republican Sen. Spencer Deery, the incumbent. Deery won by three votes and Copenhaver filed a recount petition.
Morales did not recuse himself and continues to serve as chair of the Recount Commission.
Norris issued orders earlier this week setting the recount schedules in the disputed contests.
The recount for Senate District 23, which spans across six counties in west central Indiana, is slated to begin in Tippecanoe County on June 16 and finish in Fountain County on June 26.
The recount for Senate District 15 will be held June 30 and July 1 in Fort Wayne.
In House District 57, which includes portions of Hendricks, Johnson and Morgan counties, Greg Knott filed for a recount after losing the GOP nomination to Wes Bennett by 79 votes. That recount is scheduled for June 29 in Hendricks County.
Norris, apparently, will not rule on the motions that have been filed in the recounts for Senate District 15 and Senate District 23 until after the ballot counting is complete. In separate orders, he set a June 26 deadline for responding to the respective motions.
Brown filed a motion to dismiss the contest claim in Vogt’s recount petition. She asserted her opponent failed to make a legally sufficient plea to support the claim.
Copenhaver filed a motion to subpoena and depose more than 10 voters she alleges broke state law by crossing over and voting for Deery in the Republican primary. Also, she filed an objection alleging Parke County added another vote to Deery’s total after the deadline for recertifying the results had passed.
An audit team, composed of staff members from the Indiana State Board of Accounts, will conduct the recount. The team will tally all the ballots, dividing them into disputed and undisputed piles. Also, the team will inspect all poll lists, voter affidavits, absentee envelopes and other documents relevant to the proceeding.
Each candidate will be allowed to observe the recount. The candidates cannot argue or interfere with the audit team, but they can request a ballot be marked as disputed.
When the count is complete, the Recount Commission will convene to review the recount director’s report and receive any evidence from the candidates as to whether disputed ballots should be included in the final vote tally.
The commission will determine whether the disputed ballots shall be counted as votes and how those votes will be awarded to the candidates. Once the commission has completed its work, the election results will be adjusted, if needed, and certified.
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org
