Mike Wolanin | The Republic Republican Joseph “Jay” Foyst listens to the ruling by the Bartholomew County Election Board during a hearing over a challenge to his candidacy for Columbus City Council District 6 in the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office at the Bartholomew County Courthouse in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Aug. 18, 2023.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Joseph Jay Foyst is back on the ballot for Columbus City Council District 6, but the Bartholomew County Democratic Party is likely to seek another challenge to his candidacy.
The Bartholomew County Republican Party held a caucus Tuesday evening to select a candidate for District 6. According to party chair Luann Welmer, Foyst was selected unanimously, with no other candidates seeking to fill the vacancy.
The Bartholomew County Election Board previously granted the Bartholomew County Democratic Party’s challenge to the candidacy of Foyst for District 6.
Foyst, 60, previously a salesman for 25 years and now a dump truck driver, was selected as the Bartholomew County Republican Party’s nominee in 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 Nov. 7 general election.
Bartholomew County Democratic Party chairman Ross Thomas challenged Foyst’s candidacy, arguing that it was invalid because the Republican party had failed to file its notice for the July caucus with the Bartholomew County Clerk’s office by the required deadline.
However, while the election board upheld the challenge, there is a section of Indiana Code that allowed the Republican Party to fill the vacancy within 30 days, said Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz.
Following Tuesday’s caucus, Thomas said that his party planned to submit another challenge, stating that the GOP’s “very broad interpretation of election law is flawed.”
“The rules are the rules, and we’re going to ensure that they’re followed,” he said.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chairman Ross Thomas addresses members of the Bartholomew Election Board during a hearing about his challenge of Republican Joseph Jay Foyst’s candidacy for Columbus City Council District 6 in the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office at the Bartholomew County Courthouse in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Aug. 18, 2023.
