The Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday issued an order setting aside a determination by the Indiana Recount Commission and declaring incumbent state Senator Spencer Deery the winner of the Republican primary for Senate District 23. The court found that Deery won by just three votes.
“Indiana Code section 3-12-1-12 makes a qualifying ballot legally countable despite a defect caused by an election officer. Having considered the written submissions and having heard the arguments of counsel, a majority of the Court votes to set aside the Commission’s final determination certifying that Paula Copenhaver received the higher number of votes for the Senate District 23 Republican primary,” the one-page order, which was signed by Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush, stated.
“The Court further orders the Election Commission to declare that Spencer Deery received 6,335 votes and Paula Copenhaver received 6,332 votes in the State Senate District 23 Republican primary and to recertify its results.”
The order takes effect immediately and vacates the stay order issued on September 3.
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🚨 The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that GOP Sen. Spencer Deery won his primary by three votes, reversing a recount result that favored Trump-backed Paula Copenhaver. Deery was targeted after opposing Trump’s push to redraw Indiana’s congressional map. pic.twitter.com/IglyosVh9k
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 10, 2026
The dispute originated in the May 5, 2026, Republican primary. Initial unofficial results showed Deery ahead of Copenhaver by three votes, at which point Copenhaver requested a recount.
In August, the three-member Indiana Recount Commission — which was chaired by Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales and including Republican Paul Mullin and Democrat Michael Claytor — disallowed six ballots cast for Deery. Those ballots, four absentee-by-mail and two in-person early votes, lacked a county clerk’s stamp or signature. The commission’s 2-1 decisions produced certified totals of 6,332 votes for Copenhaver and 6,329 for Deery.
Deery appealed, arguing the omissions were election-worker errors rather than voter mistakes or evidence of fraud. His attorney, Karen Celestino-Horseman, told the court the commission’s action was an “abuse of discretion.”
Copenhaver’s attorney, William Bock, argued that clerk seals and signatures serve as authenticators. “That’s why the seal and signature are on an absentee ballot as authenticators, because the problem can come in any part of the process. It need not be a voter error,” Bock said.
The statutory provision referenced in arguments and the court’s order provides that a ballot marked and cast in compliance with title requirements “may nevertheless be counted” even if it would otherwise not be counted solely because of an election officer’s act or failure to act, “unless evidence of fraud, tampering, or misconduct affecting the integrity of the ballot is presented.” No such evidence was found by the commission regarding the six ballots, the court determined.
Copenhaver had received an endorsement from President Donald Trump after Deery voted against a proposed mid-decade redrawing of Indiana’s congressional districts. The primary was one of several in which Trump-endorsed challengers opposed Republican incumbents who had opposed that redistricting effort.
Six other targeted incumbents lost their primaries.
