District 49 primary results may not be certified for months

May 23—GOSHEN — It may be months before an actual Republican primary winner in the District 49 state representative race is certified.

On Thursday morning, the Elkhart County Election Board conducted an emergency meeting at the County Administration Building to discuss the recount in the District 49 race, tabulate the military and overseas ballots, tabulate the mail ballots that arrived on Primary Election Day, May 7, and make determinations concerning the provisional ballots that were cast. A petition for a recount was filed May 15 by District 49 candidate Cindy Hajicek, and an impoundment order was issued after 5 p.m. May 15, indicating that the Indiana State Police would be impounding and securing all ballots and voting equipment used in the Primary Election.

"We have access to nothing," Anderson said at the meeting, which was originally scheduled for 8 a.m. and later moved to 11:45 a.m.

In the primary, incumbent Joanna King received 3,805 votes (65%) to Hajicek's 2,047 (35%).

Hajicek was in attendance at the meeting, as were Wayne Kramer and Jennifer Shell, election board representatives for the Elkhart County Republican and Democratic parties respectively, and Carol Smith, chief deputy for elections for the county.

"It's very disconcerting," Shell said about the potential disenfranchisement of voters from the recount situation.

What was tabulated at the time of the May 7 primary is what will be recounted. The petition Hajicek filed did not mention any specifics, and petitions for recount need to be filed by a specific date. Certification of the vote was Monday at noon, and today is the deadline for the County Election Board to make required corrections to the number of votes cast.

Anderson estimates that the recount could take several months.

Steve Wilson is news editor for The Goshen News. You can reach him at steve.wilson@goshennews.com.