LaPorte County Election Board rejects six provisional ballots, certifies 2026 primary winners

The LaPorte County Election Board voted May 15 to reject six provisional ballots and to certify the county’s 2026 primary-election winners.

Board members reviewed six provisional ballots and determined that two were disqualified because the voters’ addresses had moved across congressional-district lines between registration and election day, which the board said prevented those ballots from being counted under applicable election rules. The board voted to reject all six provisional ballots — four for missing required information and two for the district-change disqualification.

“I read through so many statutes today,” a board member said during the review, explaining the legal constraint that prevented counting a provisional ballot after a congressional-district change. The board asked co-director of voter registration Angie Hansman to verify the district lines before voting.

After resolving the provisional-ballot issue, the board read aloud the winners to be certified for LaPorte County-only results, including U.S. House, state legislative and multiple county and township offices. The board corrected one earlier listing for the Republican state-convention delegates-at-large before proceeding.

The board then moved to certify the county’s primary election results and authorized the county MicroVote representative to run the final official report; members agreed to sign the official report when it was provided to the clerk’s office. The certification motion was seconded and approved.

Outcome and formal actions:
- Reject provisional ballots (motion adopted): The board rejected six provisional ballots (four due to missing required information; two disqualified for congressional-district changes). The board recorded the vote and the motion carried.
- Certify primary election (motion adopted): The board voted to certify the 2026 LaPorte County primary as read into the record and to sign the final MicroVote report when it is delivered.

What’s next: The board will sign the formal MicroVote report when the official file is delivered and noted that, because no provisional ballots were counted into the official totals, today’s unofficial tallies will become the official record once signed.

Quotes from the meeting:
- “Please know that the board had already addressed [the anonymous complaint] before you took the time to put it in an envelope,” Katie Bowen said when addressing an earlier anonymous complaint.

The meeting adjourned following brief member comments and thanks to election staff and poll workers.