Two GOP primary races and one Democrat race in Muncie to be settled Tuesday

An earlier version of this story omitted the Muncie City Council GOP District 3 race between Nick Taulbee and Chuck Leonard. We regret the error.

MUNCIE, Ind. − If there is any such thing as a small election, Tuesday might qualify.

The race for Muncie mayor is contested on the Republican side between a Muncie reserve police officer Tony Cox and the incumbent Dan Ridenour. Three other contested races are on the ballot. two involve Republicans in City Council districts 3 and 4. The other is a battle for the Democrats to see who will get their nomination in District 6.

More: Primary election ballots take shape in Muncie, Gaston and Eaton

But there has been plenty of political fighting leading up to Tuesday, including the battle over who would finally be on the ballot that wasn't settled by the courts until a little more than a week ago.

Much of the work by the Delaware County Election Board leading up to the election involved preparing to vote through vote centers, as much of the rest of Indiana does. That work came to naught after Ashley Nichols, Democrat representative on the board, voted sown the proposal she had helped develop on Feb. 28. Nichols had claimed Republicans hadn't properly prepared for the change.

The board then heard challenges to candidates for office concerning the filing of their paperwork. Two incumbent city council members, Tony Ingram and Isaac Miller, were removed from the Republican primary ballot due to fouled up paperwork. Miller had submitted forms meant for the previous year's election and Ingram had failed to completely fill out his paperwork.

More: Roger Overbey selected for Muncie City Council seat, replacing Anitra Davis

Ingram filed a lawsuit saying his removal from the ballot was based on Republicans wanting him out of office because he too often supports Democrats over Republicans on the council. The court found for the board and Ingram remained off the ballot.

Another lawsuit, filed by Democrat city council candidate Audie Barber, targeted Delaware County Clerk Rick Spangler and Muncie City Clerk Belinda Munson. It asked Munson be removed from the ballot because she did not file all her paperwork, including a financial disclosure, by deadline. The court dismissed the case, saying such matters were not up to the courts but were up to the Election Board to determine. The decision was released last week.

In early April the community lost Marwin Strong, a candidate on the Republican ballot for city council at-large. Strong, a community activist, will remain on the ballot. Should his name draw among the top three totals for a nomination spot, the Republicans will caucus to determine who should fill the spot on the general election ballot in the fall, said Spangler.

Meanwhile, voters have been casting ballots since the first week in April leading up to Tuesday. But not very many.

"It's terrible," Spangler said of early voting. "That's terribly low."

As of Monday morning, walk-in early voting at the Delaware County Building had only drawn 413 registered voters. The last municipal election primary in 2019 drew 18 percent of registered voters.

More: Judge dismisses effort to remove Belinda Munson from Republican primary ballot

"We'll have to have a huge turnout tomorrow to reach that," Spangler said.

But an important decision will be made.

Cox, who is running for political office for the first time, is challenging Ridenour, who is ending his first term.

In District 3, is a contested race between Nick Taulbee and Chuck Leonard. In District 4, with the loss of Isaac Miller from the ballot, Muncie Parks Board President Brad Marshall is running against Brandy Webb. Webb is the wife of Delaware County Council member Ryan Webb.

For Democrats, the District 6 race includes incumbent Roger Overbey, who was placed on council by a Democrat caucus following the resignation of Anitra Davis. Harold D. Mason Jr. and Monte M. Murphy are also running for the seat.

Polls open at 6 a.m.

David Penticuff is a reporter with The Star Press. He can be contacted at dpenticuff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Two GOP and one Democrat primary races to be settled Tuesday in Muncie