By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
August 19, 2026
The Indiana Supreme Court issued a scheduling order on Tuesday in the Senate District 23 election dispute, pushing Paula Copenhaver and the Indiana Recount Commission to file their first responses in the case by Friday.
At issue is the emergency motion for transfer that incumbent state Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, filed on Monday. He is asking the Supreme Court to accept his appeal of the Recount Commission’s decision, which overturned the results of the District 23 Republican primary and made Copenhaver the winner.
Also, Deery, who has served one term in the General Assembly, urged the Supreme Court to move quickly since the deadline for the Nov. 3 general election is fast approaching. County clerks will have to start sending mail-in ballots to voters on Sept. 19 and the polls for early in-person voting open on Oct. 6.
Although the Supreme Court has set an expedited briefing schedule, it has not yet decided whether to accept the case. The court is only asking the parties to present their arguments as to whether it should put the election dispute on its docket.
The appellees – Copenhaver, represented by William Bock III of Kroger Gardis & Regas in Indianapolis, and the Recount Commission, likely represented by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office – are to file their responses by 4:30 p.m. Friday. Deery must submit his reply no later than 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24.
Deery is being represented by Karen Celestino-Horseman, William Groth and Samantha DeWester.
The order said after the parties file, the Supreme Court could “take the matter under advisement,” but did not provide any date for when a decision would be made.
If transfer is accepted, the justices could fast-track the case as they did with John Rust, Seymour egg farmer, in early 2024. Rust, wanting to run in the GOP primary against Jim Banks for the U.S. Senate, challenged the constitutionality of the state’s Affiliation Statute that barred him from the race because he had not pulled a Republican ballot in the two most-recent primaries in which he had voted.
The Supreme Court held oral arguments on Feb. 12, 2024, and three days later issued a one-page order that essentially blocked Rust’s candidacy. On March 6, the justices filed their 84-page opinion84-page opinion, which included the majority’s reasoning for upholding the law and the minority’s dissent.
Deery is turning to the Supreme Court to try to restore his victory in the May Republican primary.
During the Aug. 10 hearing of the Recount Commission, Deery’s slim, three-vote lead was erased and Copenhaver captured the GOP nomination in the Indiana Senate race. The incumbent’s vote total slipped to 6,329, three votes behind Copenhaver’s 6,332, because the Republicans on the Recount Commission – Paul Mullin and Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales – rejected six absentee ballots cast for Deery that did not have the seal and signature of the county clerk.
Deery is arguing that the Recount Commission erred.
In his motion to transfer, Deery asserted Indiana Code 3-12-1-12(b) is a “savings clause,” which protects a ballot from failures by election officials. The omission of a clerk’s seal and signature falls under this statue.
Moreover, Deery argued, Indiana Supreme Court precedent in the 1951 ruling, Brown v. Grzeskowiak, expressly held what the saving clause enacted. That case was about the Recount Commission overturning the election results for the St. Joseph County Circuit Court Clerk.
“In the absence of fraud, actual or suggested, statutes will be liberally construed to accomplish this purpose (of free and fair casting and counting of ballots),” so as to uphold the will of the voters and “prevent disfranchisement,” the majority held.
Copenhaver, governmental affairs director for Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, and her legal team have not filed anything as of Tuesday with the Supreme Court. In a social-media post following the Recount Commission’s Aug. 10 hearing, Copenhaver indicated she was focused on the general election, despite Dewester, Deery’s attorney, saying an appeal was imminent.
“Now, it’s time for Republicans to unite, defeat the Democrats’ radical socialist agenda, deliver real property tax relief, and defend the commonsense conservative values Hoosier believe in,” Copenhaver wrote on X.
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.
