JEFFERSONVILLE — The Clark County Election Board will meet Tuesday to count the physical ballots cast at Jeffersonville High School in the Nov. 3 general election. IndyPolitics reported Friday that ballots from Clark County precincts were under review in the Senate District 45 race, where Senate Republicans’ choice for president pro tem, Sen. Chris Garten, holds a narrow lead.
Unofficial results posted by the Indiana Secretary of State show Garten, a Charlestown Republican, with 21,817 votes and Democrat Nick Marshall with 21,520, a margin of 297 votes. Libertarian Larry Mahaney was also on the ballot.
Miguel Hampton, chair of the Clark County Democratic Party, told IndyPolitics on Friday that ballots were under review and that the review could change the outcome of the race. A source familiar with the matter said lawyers are involved and that the ballots come from two precincts that lean heavily Democratic.
The Election Board’s notice, dated Nov. 6, covers four precincts: Jeffersonville Precincts 13, 23, 24 and 26. All four voted at the high school on Allison Lane. The notice does not name any race. IndyPolitics has not confirmed whether those precincts are in Senate District 45.
The board will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the election room in the basement of the Clark County Courthouse. According to the notice, the board will count only the number of physical ballots cast. “No votes for any candidate, office, or public question will be counted or tallied,” the notice states. The meeting is open to the public.
The notice does not say what prompted the count, how many ballots are involved, or what steps the board will take once the count is finished. It is signed by Election Board Chairman Andrew Steele, board member Tony Singleton, and Ryan Lynch, who serves as board secretary and Clark County Clerk.
On Election Day, voters in the four precincts at Jeffersonville High School faced delays Tuesday morning after a ballot tore inside a voting machine and jammed it, according to WDRB and WAVE. The stations reported that the jam caused long lines as voters waited to scan their ballots into the machine.
Lynch did not return a call seeking comment Friday.
Garten announced he would seek the pro tem post after Sen. Rodric Bray, a Martinsville Republican, said earlier this year he would step aside. Senate Republicans selected Garten as their choice last week. A loss would leave the caucus without its choice for the Senate’s top leadership post.
Clark County’s results remain unofficial until the county completes its canvass and certifies them.
Clark County has had problems tabulating ballots in recent elections. After the 2024 general election, the county said three memory sticks used to carry results from polling places to the central counting location did not upload, leaving 4,068 ballots out of the first unofficial results. Those ballots came from Renaissance Academy in Clarksville, River Valley Middle School in Jeffersonville and the Clark County 4-H Fairgrounds in Charlestown. In 2022, about 1,700 ballots were not correctly transferred to the tabulation software, an error that reversed the result of the House District 71 race.
