At the recommendation of the State Election Commission, the County Election Board canceled its tentatively scheduled meeting to discuss Huntington County GOP Chairman Kristopher Underwood’s inappropriately dated candidate filing form.
Andrews Town Board Member Ray Tackett said he filed the complaint with the County Election Board after reading the HuntingtonDaily.com article regarding Underwood’s filing form for Huntington Township Board. The form was stamped “2010 Feb. 20 A 7:35” – a day past the filing deadline. But Feb. 19 – the final day to file for candidacy – was handwritten over the Feb. 20.
Underwood’s second filing form for Republican State Convention Delegate was stamped appropriately.
Underwood said he filed both forms at the same time. County Clerk Fran Felts, who admitted to changing the date, said the incorrect date stamp was the result of a date/time stamp machine error.
According to Robert Widmer, president of Widmer Time Recorder Co. which manufactured the date/time stamping machine, said the odds of the machine making this type of error were “out of this stratosphere.”
Tackett, who served with Felts on the Andrews Town Board before her appointment to County Clerk by GOP precinct committeemen, said he felt the altered stamp warranted examination by the County Election Board.
“Mrs. Felts has had a history of arrogance. She does what she wants to do … I looked at the election laws and I want to know if it was legal or illegal,” Tackett said. “If she violated (the law), she needs to be held accountable. There is something wrong somewhere.”
The Huntington County TAB reported a meeting of the election board tentatively scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 13 at the County Courthouse. But Felts, who sits on the three-member County Election Board, said there was no 9 a.m. meeting on April 13.
Carmen Oswalt, Democratic appointee to the County Election Board, explained there was discussion about a 9 a.m. meeting, but it never came to fruition because the State Election Board advised against it.
“We had considered it, but we spoke with the State Election Board and they gave us different advice,” Oswalt said.
Carol Grove, GOP appointee to the County Election Board, refused to comment on the situation.
Grove did note she was appointed to the Election Board prior to Underwood’s election as GOP chairman, but said she “didn’t know” who the GOP chairman was when she was appointed to the board.
All Indiana Election Commission members and Leslie Barns, co-counsel for the Indiana Election Division, were unavailable for comment regarding the advice given to the County Election Board.
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