Lindsey Cornett, a candidate for the District 4 seat on the Indianapolis Public Schools board, is fighting a challenge to her eligibility to run.
Bryan Regules filed the challenge petition July 1 with the Marion County Election Board, citing three reasons — including a lack of enough signatures of registered voters on Cornett's candidacy petition.
Cornett, who is an editor for congregation engagement at Englewood Community Development Corporation, said there is no merit to the challenge.
“I'm confused about who this individual is and why they feel the need to challenge it, but I'm confident that I can defend against the challenge in the hearing next week,” Cornett told WFYI.
Regules, who lives in District 4, declined to speak with WFYI for this story.
The Marion County Election Board will hear the arguments in the challenge at a public meeting on July 27 at 10 a.m. at the Indianapolis City-County Building in room T260.
Details of the candidate challenge
Regules' first argument is that Cornett did not meet the noon June 18 deadline to file candidate paperwork with the Marion County Election Board.
Cornett said that she arrived and submitted her paperwork to the Marion County Voter Registration Office before the noon deadline. When the paperwork was taken to the election board’s office, a worker there said they could not accept the application since it was past the deadline.
Days later, an election board staff member told WFYI the board accepted Cornett’s filing after receiving advice from its attorney
The second argument the petition makes is that it asks the election board to determine if Cornett accurately labeled herself as a Democrat.
Indiana law now allows school board candidates to have a party affiliation, meaning they can label themselves as being affiliated with the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Libertarian Party or a political party of their choosing. They can also choose to be labeled as an independent candidate or choose not to disclose any affiliation at all.
However, Indiana does not require voters to register with any party. Cornett labeled herself as a Democrat on the candidate filing form and claims that in the two most recent primary elections in which she voted, they were Democratic primaries.
Cornett told WFYI that she identifies as a Democrat and has been voting Democrat for at least a decade.
Regules' final argument against Cornett’s candidacy is that she failed to get the required 10 signatures of registered voters residing in the same district Cornett is running for.
WFYI reviewed Cornett’s candidate filing documents and found the 10th signature listed on her form was labeled as “NR” or not registered to vote.
However, Cornett said that when she was filing her candidate paperwork, the voter registration office notified her it was not able to verify the 10th signee’s voter registration, but that she could also include her own signature on the form, which would then count toward the 10 needed signatures.
Cornett did include her own signature, and that is why she also believes this argument has no merit.
The IPS Board of School Commissioners has seven members, with five representing specific geographic districts and two occupying at-large seats. District 4 comprises the southwest portions of the city.
Cornett’s only challenger in the race is Chris Bultman. Bultman was just appointed to the seat in June by the IPS Board over Cornett. The seat became vacant after board member Allissa Impink resigned from the position because she won the primary race for Indiana State Senate District 46.
Aug. 21 is the final day to challenge any school board candidates who have filed to run through the normal process.
This isn't the first time in recent years an IPS school board candidate has faced a challenge to their eligibility.
In September 2024, the Marion County Election Board removed District 2 candidate Terrencio Davis from that year's ballot after a challenge from Gayle Cosby, another candidate in the race. Cosby said Davis lived in Lawrence Township outside of the IPS district and did not meet the residency requirements. The election board upheld Cosby's challenge and Davis was removed from the ballot.
The general election is Nov. 3.
Contact WFYI Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org.
