By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
May 14, 2026
A Democratic representative in the General Assembly is calling on Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales to recuse himself from any potential recount in the Republican primary race between state Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, and challenger Paula Copenhaver, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office said Morales would not be stepping aside from his role if a recount petition is filed.
Deery is the apparent winner in the GOP race for Indiana Senate District 23 by a razor-thin margin of no more than three votes. The bitter contest, in which Deery was pummeled by political action committees and Trump for voting against midcycle redistricting, was not decided until all but two of the provisional ballots were counted.
Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, raising concerns about Morales’ ability to remain objective during any recount of ballots in that race.
Morales is chair of the Indiana Recount Commission, which conducts any recounts requested after a primary or general election. The commission decides whether a disputed ballot will be counted and appoints a director to supervise the tallying of votes by the State Board of Accounts.
DeLaney said Morales serving as chair of a recount would undercut the credibility of the results.
“Diego Morales has persistently undermined our confidence in elections and the integrity of his office. I’m asking him to step aside from any recount involving Sen. Deery,” DeLaney said in a statement.
“Diego Morales has deeply involved himself with a branch of Turning Point USA, which endorsed Deery’s primary opponent,” DeLaney continued. “The redistricting fight in the Indiana Senate fueled these primary challenges, and Morales has openly stated his stance. He publicly called for our state senators to redistrict and attended rallies support Washington’s preferred 9-0 map.”
Morales’ office told The Indiana Citizen that, as of Wednesday, no petitions for a recount from Indiana’s 2026 primary election have been filed.
“The Secretary of State has no intention of stepping away from the Constitutional and statutory duties of his office,” Lindsey Eaton, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office, said in an email.
DeLaney’s call for recusal came a day after Morales drew criticism from voting-rights advocates over his trip to Washington, D.C. and claims about Indiana’s election integrity.
A press release issued by the Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday said Morales had “recently traveled” to the nation’s capital, where he met with “federal officials and national leaders to discuss continued efforts to strengthen Indiana elections.” Morales’ office also highlighted the “continued collaboration with state and federal partners to ensure Hoosiers can have confidence in the electoral process.”
The press release also noted the Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard ranked Indiana 7th in the nation for election fairness and security. The scorecard from the conservative lobbying group gives high marks for requiring identification and proof of citizenship to vote, not allowing same-day voter registration, giving election observers full access, and not connecting voting equipment to the internet.
According to the release, no taxpayer money was used for Morales’ trip.
“I will continue working with leaders in Washington and alongside President Donald Trump to ensure Indiana remains a national model for secure, transparent, and trustworthy elections,” Morales said in a statement.
Voting-rights advocates countered that Morales has championed limiting Hoosiers’ access to the ballot box.
“Indiana’s voter turnout ranks near the bottom nationally, and as the chief elections officer of the state, SOS Morales should be spending his time improving voter access and education, not playing ‘election security’ theatre,” Amy Courtney, executive director of MADVoters Indiana, said in an email. “We all can see right through that — it means more restrictions, more barriers, and more trumped-up non-issues about elections in order to try and justify their attacks on our voting rights.”
While he was in D.C., Morales was invited to join the celebration of the Indiana University championship football team at the White House, according to the press release. He congratulated the players, coaches and university leadership, the release said.
Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, dismissed the trip to the White House as another instance of Morales taking advantage of an opportunity to get in a picture. She echoed Courtney by calling Indiana’s voter turnout “embarrassingly low” and pointed out Morales handed over the state’s voter roll information to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Hoosiers deserve a Secretary of State who is committed to implementing policies that make it easier to vote and that protect our voter file from outside meddling,” Vaughn said in an email. “I’d suggest that, instead of chasing photo ops, Secretary Morales commit himself to not sharing sensitive Hoosier data with the federal government and to removing barriers to voting in Indiana, not erecting new ones.”
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
