Most of Indiana's primary winners are clear, despite a record half-million absentee ballots. But counting those mail-in ballots is delaying some results.
At least seven counties are still counting thousands of ballots. Marion County has up to 78, 000 ballots left to count -- clerk's spokesman Russell Hollis says it's still unclear exactly how many. Just because someone requested a ballot doesn't mean it was filled out, and Hollis says thousands of ballots were hand-delivered Tuesday before the noon deadline.
Holllis says Marion County may not finish counting until Thursday.
Two counties declined to release any results until they could announce complete tallies.
Monroe County's results, a day after the election, showed a landslide victory for former Miss Indiana and two-time congressional nominee Shelli Yoder. The former Monroe County councilwoman crushed state Democratic chairman John Zody nearly five-to-one for the open state Senate seat of Bloomington Democrat Mark Stoops.
The delays in Marion, Allen and Saint Joseph, and the large number of mail-in ballots, leave one congressional race and a handful of Indiana House contests in doubt. Science teacher Chip Coldiron leads small-business owner Carlos Marcano by less than 200 votes for the Democratic nomination against Congressman Jim Banks (R-3rd). In Indianapolis, Republican Representative Dollyne Sherman was the lone incumbent legislator trailing in her bid for another term, with conservative challenger John Jacob leading by 159 votes on election night.
Two high-ranking House Republicans in northeast Indiana were awaiting Allen County results to clinch victory. Huntington Representative Dan Leonard led John Stoffel by 337 votes, while House Majority Leader Matthew Lehman (R-Berne) held a 975-vote edge on Taylor Isch.
And Maureen Bauer, the daughter of former House Speaker Patrick Bauer (D-South Bend), was clinging to a 234-vote lead over community activist Garrett Blad for her father's seat. A win would extend the Bauer family's 56-year hold on the seat. Burnett Bauer served three terms before yielding to Patrick, whose 50-year tenure is a General Assembly record.
