The race between incumbent state Senator Spencer Deery (R-West Lafayette) and his Trump-backed challenger Paula Copenhaver just got even closer.
A total of seven provisional ballots and one mail-in ballot were considered on Monday in Fountain and Montgomery Counties to see if they should be counted towards the final vote tally of the Senate District 23 race.
Of those ballots, four were allowed to be counted, with three of them going towards Copenhaver and one to go towards Deery.
This latest count means Deery now holds the lead by only two votes, an even slimmer margin than on election night.
The race for Deery’s seat became heated this year after the incumbent senator rejected President Trump’s mid-decade redistricting push late last year. All but one of the seven other Senate Republicans who were primaried this year were beaten by their Trump-backed candidate.
Voters are asked to cast a provisional ballot when they don’t have the proper photo ID card with them at the polls, if a poll clerk challenges a voter's signature when comparing or if there is a discrepancy on poll lists about which precinct the voter should be voting in.
Voters have until noon on May 13 to verify provisional ballots before counties can certify their election results.
Out of the six counties that make up Senate District 23, there are now only three provisional ballots remaining to be considered by local election boards.
Tippecanoe County has two provisional ballots and Parke County has one provisional ballot that still needs to be considered. Tippecanoe will hold its hearing with the election board on May 15th and Parke will hold its hearing on May 13th.
Despite the race now being even closer, Deery still remains positive after seeing Monday’s results.
“On the whole this is good news, especially considering the limited number of provisional votes still outstanding,” Deery told WFYI through text. “I am grateful to the public servants and volunteers who make sure our elections and the vote counting follow the law and maintain the people’s trust.”
Copenhaver told WFYI that she still believes that once all provisional ballots are counted, she will win.
“I still have peace and I stand by my statement from election night,” Copenhaver said.
This is the second match-up between Deery and Copenhaver, the two faced each other in 2022 for the seat when it was also a close race.
Elizabeth Bennion, professor of political science at IU South Bend, told WFYI that it isn’t common to see state senate races be this close.
“Where we normally see recounts are in one county races or a specific township, they tend to be smaller races, not these full senate races, so this is not a common occurrence,” Bennion said.
Counties have until May 15th to certify their primary election results.
However, if a candidate or a party chair calls for a recount of a race, then the official deadline for finalizing election results would be delayed until the recount is finished.
In Indiana, a recount of an election is only triggered if a candidate or a party chair officially requests it. The recount for a state legislative race is then conducted by the state recount commission under a court-supervised procedure.
The candidate or party chair who asks for the recount would then be responsible for paying for it. If the recount showed a change in results, then the person who called for the recount would be reimbursed.
Bennion says that the cost to recount an election like that for Senate District 23 could cost anywhere from $20,000- $50,000.
Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org
