STATEHOUSE – The Indiana Rural Summit coalition announced today that some coalition members who participated in the largest group filing in recent history at the Indiana Secretary of State’s Statehouse office will refile their candidacies to protect against a potentially catastrophic administrative failure that could disenfranchise hundreds of candidates statewide. The coalition is also calling for an investigation into the situation that has prompted the refilings.
In early January, nearly 30 members of the Indiana Rural Summit coalition formally filed to be candidates for the Indiana House and Senate. Some candidates filed at the Indiana Election Division and others at the Statehouse. The mass filing symbolized a united commitment to represent rural and small-town Hoosiers who are often overlooked at the Statehouse.
This refiling action follows media reports revealing that candidates who filed in the Secretary of State’s Statehouse office may have had their oaths administered by personnel not legally authorized to do so. This procedural failure by the office of Secretary of State Diego Morales could place roughly 330 candidates for state and federal office at risk of being removed from the 2026 ballot on a technicality.
“We are taking immediate action to protect our candidates and the voters they seek to represent,” said Indiana Rural Summit Coalition Founder Michelle Higgs. “But this is not just our problem. This is a failure of the office singularly responsible for safeguarding our elections. We are acting because the Secretary of State’s office did not.”
“The fact that the office charged with overseeing Indiana elections may have made a mistake of this magnitude is unconscionable,” Higgs stated. “We are calling for an immediate and transparent investigation. Hoosiers deserve to know: Was this a simple error, or is it a symptom of a broken system or worse, political gamesmanship?”
“This isn’t just about our candidates making an extra trip to Indianapolis,” Higgs said. “It’s about the extra barriers being placed between everyday Hoosiers and their democracy. When the system itself creates hoops that threaten to nullify the candidacies of hundreds of people, including those challenging the status quo, it shakes public trust to its core. We need more than a quick fix; we need a system where the rule of law is applied consistently and fairly, not undermined by the very office sworn to uphold it.”
“The Secretary of State’s office failed. We are fixing their mistakes. Now, we demand they are held accountable, so it never happens again,” Higgs said.
“Rather than risk our coalition members’ candidacies, we are advising all of those who filed directly with the Indiana Secretary of State’s office at the Statehouse to refile,” said Higgs. “The filing deadline is February 6th, and we don’t have time to unravel this potential mistake. We’d rather have our members be safe than sorry and refile.”
The Indiana Rural Summit is a statewide initiative designed to amplify the voices of rural and small-town Indiana residents and create real pathways for collaboration and representation.
Coalition members who filed to run as Democrats on January 7 include Valparaiso’s Ryan Kominakis (HD 4), Warren Ashley Hammac (HD 16), Peru’s Austin Meives (HD 23), Racheal Bleicher of Westfield (HD 24), Zionsville’s Tiffany Stoner (HD 25), Coumba Kebe (HD 29), Noblesville’s Devon Wellington (HD 29), John E. Bartlett of Hartford City (HD 33), Sara Gullion (HD 34), Phil Gift (HD 35), Nate Stout of Tipton (HD 38), Avon’s Will Colteryahn (HD 40), Kelsey Kauffman of Greencastle (HD 44), Bargersville’s Michael Potter (HD 47), Suzanne Fortenberry (HD 57), Bloomington Incumbent Representative Matt Pierce (HD 61), Nashville’s Amy Huffman Oliver (HD 62), Jeffersonville’s Ryan Price (HD 66), Hunter Collins of Aurora (HD 68), Chris Bowen (HD 69), Sarah Blessing of Palmyra (HD 70), Sharon Wight (HD 81), Stephanie Jo Yocum of Indianapolis (HD 88), Timothy Murphy (SD 19), Natasha Baker of Battle Ground (SD 22), Andew Dale (SD 26), Byron Holland (SD 43) and Ethan Sweetland-May (SD 47).
