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Absentee ballots for the May primary will start being sent to Republican voters in state Senate District 38 no later than March 21. (Photo/Pexels.com)

By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
March 20, 2026

A day after being appointed to preside over the state Senate District 38 legal battle, the new judge lifted the stay that had prevented Vigo, Clay and Sullivan counties from sending the Republican absentee ballots to voters.

However, his order on a motion to dismiss the case altogether is causing some confusion.

Putnam County Superior Court Judge Charles Bridges was appointed Thursday to preside over the fight to remove Alexandra Wilson from the race for the GOP nomination in Senate District 38. On Friday, he issued two single-page orders on motions Wilson’s attorney Samantha DeWester, had filed that morning.

The order lifting the stay allows the ballots that list Wilson as a candidate for the Indiana General Assembly to be sent to voters in Senate District 38.

Samantha DeWester, Wilson’s attorney, declined to comment on the judge’s orders. The Indiana Attorney General’s office, which is representing the Indiana Election Commission in this case, did not respond to a request for comment.

Attorney James Bopp, representing Jeffrey Gallant, the petitioner in the case, said he would not contest the removal of the stay. His focus now, he said, is on getting Alexandra Wilson’s name off the ballot before early voting begins on April 7 and then the primary election on May 5.

Bridges’ order lifting the stay undoubtedly provided relief to the circuit court clerks and election boards in Vigo, Clay and Sullivan counties. Saturday is the deadline for the counties to start distributing the absentee ballots. Sullivan County was scheduled to begin sending its ballots on Friday while Vigo County planned to start on Saturday and Clay had already been sending ballots since March 13.

The Vigo County Election Board was in an emergency meeting on Friday, discussing how to respond to the stay, when Bridges issued the reversal, according to reporting by the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. LeAnna Moore, county clerk and a voting member of the election board, said she was conflicted between not wanting to disobey the court’s order, but also believing she had a duty to the voters.

“I do not want any voter to feel like their rights have been infringed on,” Moore said, according to the Tribune-Star.

Members of the board were evaluating their options, including potentially filing a motion to intervene in the case, the Tribune-Star reported. Then Terry Modesitt, Vigo County prosecutor and election board attorney, who was attending the board’s by telephone, notified the members about the judge’s ruling and sent the order to Moore’s cellphone.

Alexandra Wilson had attended the board meeting and, like the board members, was relieved the stay had been vacated, according to the Tribune-Star.

“I’m glad that (the ballots) will go out, and not just for me but for fairness for the voters,” Wilson told the Tribune-Star.

In addition to requesting the court void the stay, DeWester also asked for the case to be dismissed.

The order itself says the request for dismissal has been granted and voids all prior orders and stays. However, in the signature line where the judge should sign, there is handwritten what appears to be the word “denied,” and the docket lists Bridges’ order as denying DeWester’s motion to dismiss.

Moreover, Bridges scheduled a hearing for Tuesday for a “judicial review” of the Indiana Election Commission’s ruling that kept Wilson on the ballot. He has ordered all parties in the case to appear.

Bridges along with the Clay County Circuit Court and the Putnam County Superior Court could not be reached Friday afternoon for clarification.

Bopp believes the written order granting the motion to dismiss was issued in error. He said he is going to file two motions on Monday asking the judge to reconcile the conflict and, if the matter was in fact dismissed, asking the judge to reconsider.

“We’re going to have motions to cover all bases,” Bopp said.

Dismissing a case without allowing the petitioner to respond is unusual, Bopp said. Also, he pointed out, a hearing would not have been scheduled if the case was dismissed.

“We know mistakes happen,” Bopp said, explaining he did not blame the judge for the confusion.

Arguing against the stay

The court case is based on a dispute over whether Alexandra Wilson is eligible to be a candidate in the Republican primary for the Senate District 38 seat. After Gallant, represented by Bopp, unsuccessfully challenged Wilson’s candidacy before the Election Commission, Bopp filed a petition for judicial review in Clay County Circuit Court.

The Republican race for Senate District 38 is crowded with incumbent Greg Goode of Terre Haute facing Alexandra Wilson and Brenda Wilson, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. Bopp has argued Alexandra Wilson’s presence on the ballot will confuse voters, who may be unsure which Wilson they intended to vote for, and harm Brenda Wilson by potentially denying her votes.

Clay County Circuit Court Judge David Thomas had planned to hear the merits of the case on March 18, but instead, he listened to arguments about the change-of-judge motion that DeWester had filed. During the hearing, Bopp asserted the court had to act quickly because of the approaching deadline to begin distributing absentee ballots. In the alternative of the court overturning the Election Commission’s decision, he argued for a stay to be issued.

Thomas signed the stay order a few hours after the hearing. The following morning, he signed the order granting the motion for a new judge.

DeWester’s emergency motion to reconsider asserted the three counties impacted by the stay were never part of the case and had never been served with any notice that a preliminary injunction was being sought. Also, she said her client and the Indiana Election Commission were never notified that the hearing would include arguments for holding the absentee ballots.

DeWester said the March 18 hearing was focused on her client’s motion for a change of judge. Then, it “morphed into a preliminary injunction hearing disguised as a conversation” about the stay request Bopp had included in his March 12 emergency motion for a hearing. The hearing, she said, should have followed the trial rules’ requirements which would have allowed evidence, testimony and exhibits to be presented and a record created.

In the stay order itself, DeWester asserted, the court did not provide any judicial reasoning.

“The Court failed to issue any findings of facts as to why three (3) counties should be enjoined from mailing Republican absentee ballots to voters,” DeWester said in her motion. “Instead, the Court issued an Order simply directing the counties to cease and desist from mailing any Republican absentee ballots.”

The case is Gallant v. Indiana Election Commission and Alexandra Wilson, 11C01-2603-RA-185.

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.