INDIANAPOLIS —
A judge ordered the Indiana Recount Commission to decertify the 2010 election of embattled Indiana Republican Secretary of State Charlie White on Thursday because he was not properly registered as a candidate, but White will remain in office indefinitely.
Marion Circuit Judge Louis Rosenberg issued a ruling Thursday that reversed the commission’s unanimous June decision that White was eligible to run for office last year despite questions over his residency. Rosenberg ordered the commission to certify Democrat Vop Osili as secretary of state because he received the second highest number of votes in the election.
Recount Commission spokesman AJ Feeney-Ruiz said White remained secretary of state for the time being and that the commission would not take up Rosenberg’s ruling before late next week.
“The secretary of state is still the secretary of state and will continue to do his work as secretary of state as this process plays out,” Feeney-Ruiz said.
The state attorney general’s office will seek to appeal the ruling, spokesman Bryan Corbin said.
“When a board’s unanimous administrative decision is overturned by a court, the order should be reviewed by a higher court. We will seek a stay of the court’s ruling and are in communication with our client the Recount Commission to discuss the process of an appeal,” Corbin said in a statement.
White also faces criminal charges that — if he is convicted of them — also could lead to his removal from office. Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation on Monday rejected White’s motion to dismiss the seven felony counts he faces and ruled that his trial in Noblesville on voter fraud and other charges begin Jan. 30.
White’s attorney in the criminal matter, Carl Brizzi, noted Rosenberg’s ruling had no bearing on the voter fraud case. He said the ruling went against the wishes of the Indiana electorate.
“It’s a ruling that results in the disenfranchisement of a million voters,” Brizzi said.
White collected nearly 977,000 votes to just over 632,000 for Osili in the election last year.
White, who as secretary of state is Indiana’s top elections official, represented himself in the proceedings before Rosenberg but did not show up for oral arguments last month.
The sitting secretary of state also is a member of the Recount Commission, but Feeney-Ruiz said White would recuse himself from the panel’s discussion of his case, just as he had in the discussions leading up to the June decision.
Rosenberg’s ruling came in a lawsuit brought by Democrats seeking to have the June decision overturned. Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said “justice has finally been served” with Rosenberg’s ruling.
“As a result of his vote fraud, Charlie White was never eligible to be a candidate for this office, and he’s done nothing but embarrass Hoosiers since wrongfully assuming the position,” Parker said. “... We hope that Vop will be sworn in quickly so that we can restore openness and transparency to an office that’s been clouded by Charlie White’s antics for more than a year.”
White won election despite accusations that he lied about where he lived in the 2010 primary so he could continue collecting his salary as a member of the Town Council in Fishers, just north of Indianapolis.
A Hamilton County grand jury indicted White in March on seven felony counts alleging that he used his ex-wife’s address on voter registration and other documents while he actually lived at a condo where he intended to live with his new wife, and that he collected his council salary after moving out of the district he represented.
White has maintained his innocence, saying the allegations were politically motivated and ignored a complicated personal life in which he was trying to raise his 10-year-old son, plan his second marriage and campaign for statewide office.
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