St. Joseph County Democrats intend to re-file previously removed candidates

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The St. Joseph County Democrats gathered for a county-wide precinct meeting regarding the election board meeting on Friday, Aug. 21, where five Democratic nominees were removed from general election ballots due to not having the proper filing forms.   

Professor of political science at IU South Bend, Elizabeth Bennion, says the form that was missing, happens to be the most crucial.  

“We know that these candidates did not file the CAN-31, the candidate filing form that they needed to file, and therefore, we saw a challenge to these candidates,” Bennion said. “The election board decides whether or not to uphold the challenge and, in this case, they did.”  

The Republican-majority, St. Joseph County Election Board voted to remove Ron Dewinter for Penn Township Board, Autumn Kaylor for county auditor, Dan Caruso for New Carlisle Town Council, and Christy Donlon and Marcy Kauffman for Walkerton Town Council.  

County Democratic party chair, Don Westerhausen, says they intend to re-file the same five candidates.  

“I think there’s a lot of blame to go around,” Westerhausen said. “From me personally, to the clerk's office for giving out the wrong information, to the candidates themselves, so, I think there’s a lot of blame to go around.”    

According to Westerhausen, the next step is to now get all three forms of paperwork needed to the clerk’s office, in hopes of getting them back on the ballot in time for the general election Nov. 3.  

ABC57 reached out to Republican County Chair Jackie Horvath but have yet to hear anything back.  

Editorial note: The video of this story pulled from broadcast contains an inaccuracy in its voiceover; it incorrectly states that the St. Joseph County Election Board is all-Republican. The correct information is reflected in the text of this article.