Election board grants a challenge against District 6 candidate, but GOP says there’s another way for him to return to the ballot

By
Jana Wiersema
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Republican Joseph Jay Foyst, a candide for the District 6 seat of the Columbus City Council, listens as Election Board members consider whether he should be removed from the ballot due to a challenge by Democrats. Photo by Mike Wolanin | The Republic

COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Bartholomew County Election Board has decided to grant a challenge to the candidacy of Republican Joseph Jay Foyst for Columbus City Council District 6, meaning he is off the fall ballot for now. However, party officials indicated that there may be a way to get him back in the race.

The Bartholomew County election board issued the decision at a hearing Friday afternoon.

Foyst, 60, previously a salesman for 25 years and now a dump truck driver, was selected as the Republican Party’s nominee during a party caucus in July. The caucus was convened after no Republican filed to run for the office in the party’s May primary, leaving a vacancy in the November 7 general election.

Democrat Byan Muñoz ran unopposed for his party’s District 6 nomination in the primary.

Bartholomew County Democratic Party chairman Ross Thomas alleged in his challenge that the Bartholomew County Republican Party failed to file a required notice of the party caucus with the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office before a state-imposed deadline, which he argues makes Foyst’s candidacy “void and of no effect.”

While the election board decided to agree with the challenge, there is a section of Indiana Code that allows the Republican party to fill the vacancy within 30 days, said Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz.
Republican Party vice chairman Josh Burnett said that he believes the party would be allowed to put Foyst on the ballot again under this statute.
“There’s no sore loser law in this case,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of another caucus, Thomas said, “I don’t think the law allows that. If they were to take an action like that, I think it clearly goes against the spirit of the law and particularly if they’re trying to nominate the same person who’s been excluded from the ballot.”

He said that the Democratic Party is likely to “address” the matter if the Republican Party goes down this path.

For the complete story, see Saturday’s Republic.

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