INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Election Commission issued rulings Tuesday at the Statehouse.
13News reporter Emily Longnecker shared the following news while at the meeting:
- The election commission voted to exclude egg farmer John Rust from the primary ballot in May. Rust was going to run for one of the state's U.S. Senate seats as a Republican, even though the state GOP doesn’t back his candidacy.
- The election commission voted to disqualify a challenge arguing that former President Donald Trump should not be on Indiana's primary ballot. Only one member voted against disqualifying the challenge.
- The election commission voted to exclude Tami Dixon-Tatum from the primary ballot in May. She was going to run as a Democratic candidate for Indiana governor. The challenge to Dixon Tatum's candidacy was based on not having 4,500 signatures – 500 from each congressional district – in order to be included on the ballot.
Rust said he plans to appeal Tuesday's decision to the Marion County Superior Court.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Supreme Court has not issued its final decision on the constitutionality of law that challengers of Rust were citing to say he didn't qualify to be on the primary ballot.
Rust is seeking to run against U.S. Rep. Jim Banks for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Mike Braun.
A state law says a candidate's past two primary ballots must be cast with their affiliated party or a county party chair must approve the candidacy, but Rust challenged the statute, and the Marion County court ruled in his favor, granting a temporary injunction allowing him to run in the May primary as a Republican.
Rust, the former chair of the egg supplier Rose Acre Farms, voted as a Republican in the 2016 primary but as a Democrat in 2012. He said he didn't vote in the 2020 Republican primary due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of competitive Republican races in Jackson County, and that his votes for Democrats were for people he personally knew.
The county’s Republican Party chair said in a July meeting with Rust that she would not certify him, according to the lawsuit. Rust has said she later cited his primary voting record.
Rust filed a lawsuit in September against Secretary of State Diego Morales, the Indiana Election Commission and Jackson County Republican Party Chair Amanda Lowery challenging the law. Rust officially filed with the office Feb. 5 to run as a Republican, according to state records.