Committee meets Monday to prep for next week’s Delaware council recount

MUNCIE, Ind. – Delaware County’s court-appointed recount committee will meet in public at 4 p.m. Monday to determine the rules for recounting the Republican at-large county council, which will start at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler announced the committee, appointed by Special Judge Brian Bade of Blackford County, will meet on the eve of the recount in the commissioners’ conference room on the second floor of the county building downtown to discuss the process and set rules for the new count.

Sitting council member Ryan Webb, who finished fourth in the May at-large race that sends the top three candidates onto the general election ballot, requested the recount. He fell short of the total garnered by Eugene Whitehead by 68 votes. Whitehead, also a sitting council member, finished third and will be on the fall ballot for the Republicans, along with Jessica Piper and Brad Bookout, who finished first and second, respectively.

Bade appointed people Spangler recommended to the three-person recount committee, which includes a single Republican and Democrat representative along with a person familiar with the recount process and the machines used in the election.

Knox County Clerk David Shelton, whose county also uses the same MicroVote system as Delaware County, was appointed to the committee. Spangler said the southern Indiana clerk also had experience working on election recounts. He will join attorney Brandon Murphy, representing Republicans, and attorney Maricel Driscoll, representing Democrats, on the committee.

The recount of paper and machine ballots will be Tuesday in the basement of the county building. The recount is open to the public.

Webb said when requesting the recount in May that he wants to verify the results of the close race, and several people in the community came forward to pay the costs of a recount on his behalf.

Bade agreed to preside over the case in Delaware Circuit Court 3 after Delaware County judges, who are also elected on local ballots, recused themselves.