It could take several weeks to complete a recount — if one is sought — of the razor-thin margin in the Republican primary race between state Sen. Spencer Deery and his President Donald Trump-endorsed challenger Paula Copenhaver.
The Indiana Recount Commission on Friday approved procedures for checking ballots in a possible recount just hours before the Tippecanoe County Election Board completed the final preliminary tallies in the Senate District 23 race.
As Tippecanoe County counted no additional ballots in the race, the totals from all six counties in the district showed Deery with a three-vote margin — 6,337 to 6,334 — over Copenhaver, the Fountain County Republican Chair.
RECOUNT FILING PERIOD OPENED
Friday was the first day recount petitions could be filed with the state. A candidate has until noon (Eastern) Tuesday to do so, while any Republican county chair in the district faces a noon Friday, May 22 deadline to ask for a recount.
Copenhaver did not immediately seek a recount Friday, and neither she nor a campaign spokesman responded to messages from the Indiana Capital Chronicle seeking comment.
Deery, a first-term senator from West Lafayette, was among the Republican legislators targeted by Trump after voting against the congressional redistricting plan pushed last year by the president.
When asked about the prospect of a recount, Deery replied, “I don’t have anything to say about a request that hasn’t happened yet.”
Final tallies were also posted Friday in the Senate District 15 primary between Republican Sen. Liz Brown of Fort Wayne and challenger Darren Vogt.
Those results for the district, which is entirely in Allen County, showed Vogt picking up one vote from the preliminary figures. But Vogt still trailed Brown by 14 votes — 5,241 to 5,227.
Vogt did not respond to messages seeking comment about whether he would seek a recount.
RECOUNT COULD LAST INTO JULY
The state Recount Commission, meanwhile, approved Friday the selection of a recount director and guidelines for State Board of Accounts auditors in conducting any election reviews.
Recounts conducted in 2024 of two contested Indiana House primary races confirmed the initial results, finding only two miscounted ballots out of thousands.
But those reviews were not finalized until August — three months after the primary was held.
State Examiner Paul Joyce, who heads up the Board of Accounts, said after Friday’s commission meeting that the logistics are complicated for a recount spread over multiple counties.
The tight Deery-Copenhaver race involves all or parts of six counties spanning much of the area between Lafayette and Terre Haute.
Joyce said field auditors could need two days in each county to complete their work.
“If it’s in the six-county area, you’re talking a minimum of 12 on-site days,” Joyce told the Capital Chronicle. “It’s not going to surprise me if it’s into July. I would hope it’s done before the end of July and we don’t get into August.”