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Manning County election board removes Roberta Gilpatrick from Republican primary ballot
Summary
The Manning County Election Board voted 3-0 on Feb. 19, 2026 to remove Roberta Gilpatrick from the Republican primary ballot after a timely challenge alleging she failed to meet party voting-history and authorization requirements under state law.
MANNING COUNTY — The Manning County Election Board voted unanimously on Feb. 19 to remove Roberta Gilpatrick from the Republican primary ballot for the May 5, 2026 primary after a challenger contended she did not meet Indiana party eligibility rules.
The challenge, brought by challenger Neil Smith, alleged Gilpatrick failed to meet the voting-history and party-authorization requirements cited in state law. Smith read portions of the statute during his remarks: “Indiana State law states ... Indiana State code 3 dash 8 dash 2 dash 7,” and argued that the board should remove the candidate from the ballot.
Board members said they had reviewed the filed challenge, confirmed it was timely, and verified the challenger’s residency and standing to bring the case. The board reported reviewing Gilpatrick’s primary voting record and found she voted in the Republican primary in 2024 but in the Democratic primary in 2022, which the board interpreted as not meeting the requirement to have voted in the same party’s primaries in the two previous primaries in which she voted. Board members also said there was no written authorization from the county party chair on file allowing her to run as a Republican.
Chair Bill Reynolds moved to remove Gilpatrick from the ballot; John Saquinnetti seconded the motion. The board called the vote and, after members voiced their support for the motion, declared it carried by a 3-0 vote. The chair stated the challenge was upheld and that the candidate would be removed from the ballot. The board confirmed Gilpatrick had been notified of the hearing by email and that she was not present to rebut the challenge.
The board then moved to adjourn.
What the board cited: The decision rested on the challenge’s factual claims about Gilpatrick’s prior primary votes and the absence of party authorization, together with the statutory language read aloud by the challenger during the hearing. The transcript records the code citation in the challenger's reading as “Indiana State code 3 dash 8 dash 2 dash 7.”
