Party Label Confusion Threatens Ballot Spots of Both Candidates in IPS District 4 Race

A new Indiana law allowing school board candidates to run with a party label could remove the only two candidates in an Indianapolis Public Schools board race from the November ballot. Lindsey Cornett and Chris Bultman, both seeking the District 4 seat, have each drawn challenges tied in part to their filing as Democrats. Bultman has held the seat since his appointment in June.

A challenge against Cornett was filed on July 1. It argues she should be disqualified for several reasons, including questions about whether she can appear on the ballot as a Democrat. A second challenge, filed late Friday afternoon, targets Bultman on similar grounds related to his eligibility to run under that party label.

The dispute traces back to a 2025 state law that lets school board candidates run as a Democrat, Republican or Libertarian, or with no party affiliation at all. The Marion County Election Board had planned to hear arguments on Cornett's challenge at its Monday meeting. After the second challenge arrived, the board's legal counsel advised considering both together.

Brad Boswell, an attorney with Faegre Drinker who advises the board, said conflicting language in state election law and the new school board statute complicates both cases. The new law says a candidate claiming a major party must show they voted in the last two primaries "held by the party with which the candidate claims affiliation." The state's candidate guide, however, says the candidate must have voted in that party's primary in the "two (2) most recent Indiana primary elections that the candidate voted in." Both the law and the guide also allow a candidate to gain affiliation with approval from the party's county chairman.

The difference matters. Voter registration records obtained by WFYI show that neither candidate has ever voted in an Indiana primary other than the 2026 Democratic primary, and neither voted in 2024. If the board applies the law's stricter standard, both could be disqualified.

A further question follows: whether candidates found ineligible as Democrats would be removed from the ballot entirely or could remain as unaffiliated candidates. Indiana's Election Administrator's Manual says a county board can remove a candidate who is successfully challenged over party affiliation. It also says school board candidates who choose a minor party, claim to be independent or decline to affiliate cannot be challenged on that basis.

Boswell said Marion County is likely the first board in the state to decide candidate eligibility under the new law. "First, thank you General Assembly, because this seems clear as mud," said Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell during the meeting. The three-person board voted unanimously to postpone both challenges until more guidance is available on how to interpret the law, and it has not set a date for its next meeting.

Secretary of state records show that about half of the 1,034 school board candidates who have filed for the November general election listed no party affiliation. Bultman and Cornett are the only candidates filed for District 4, which was previously held by Allissa Impink. She resigned after winning the primary for Indiana State Senate District 46.

Bryan Regules filed the challenge against Cornett. Isaiah Tworek filed the challenge against Bultman and noted that it concerns party affiliation only, not his eligibility to be a candidate. Aug. 21 is the last day to challenge school board candidates through the normal process, and ballot language and candidates must be confirmed by mid-September. The general election is Nov. 3.