COLUMBUS, Ind. — State officials are allowing Bartholomew County to extend the filing deadline for the May 3 primary to noon on Monday after the county courthouse was closed Thursday and Friday due to the winter storm.
The filing deadline was to have been noon on Friday.
Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz said she was informed that counties who closed their courthouse on Thursday only (or didn’t close at all) still had to meet the Friday deadline. But those who closed their courthouses both Thursday and Friday had the extension until Monday.
All other upcoming election deadlines will remain the same, Lentz said. For example, candidates still have until noon on Friday, Feb. 11, to change their minds and file a withdrawal of candidacy, she said.
Other important deadlines include the end of voter registration for the primary on Friday, April 1 and the beginning of absentee voting on Tuesday, April 5.
In a filing update, incumbent Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus, now has a challenger in the May primary.
Bartholomew County Prosecutor William M. “Bill” Nash has submitted the necessary paperwork to challenge Lauer, R-Columbus, in the Republican primary.
Nash, who has been county prosecutor since defeating six-term Democrat Joseph R. Koenig in 2003, filed on Jan. 31 to challenge Lauer for the District 59 seat. The filing comes several months after Nash announced he would not seek another term as prosecutor.
Lauer, a former Bartholomew County councilman, succeeded fellow Republican Milo Smith in 2018, and is seeking his third consecutive term in the Indiana House of Representatives.
Rep. Ryan Lauer
For the complete story, see Saturday’s Republic.
