(INDIANAPOLIS) – Two days after Election Day, there are still no results from Porter County.
State Democratic Chairman John Zody says it’s unacceptable there were still no results two days after Hoosiers voted. He accuses Republican Clerk Karen Martin of making multiple mistakes, and says the problems started before Election Day. He charges the county failed to properly train pollworkers, some of whom walked off the job on Election Day. He says there have also been problems with pollworkers failing to initial properly submitted ballots.
The problems burst into public view when several polling places opened late. A judge ordered them to stay open past the normal closing time to make up for it. The election board didn’t even start counting until Wednesday, and has said it won’t release any tallies until all the votes are counted.
Zody calls the situation “a miscarriage of election administration.”
Votes from the county will determine whether Republicans maintain their supermajority in the Indiana House. Five House districts include part of the county, including two hotly contested races. There are no results at all from Valparaiso Representative Ed Soliday’s race against Democrat Frank Szczepanski. And Democrat Lisa Beck leads Crown Point Representative Julie Olthoff by 504 votes in returns from Lake County. Olthoff won Porter in both her previous campaigns, but would need her biggest margin ever to erase the deficit. Democrats would break the Republican supermajority if they win both.
(Photo: David McNew/Getty Images)
