Dispute Over Brooks-Stephens Ballot Position Not Over Yet

tess-brooks-stephens

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. —  A dispute over the Terre Haute Primary ballot for city council isn’t over yet.

When the ballots for the 2019 primary in Terre Haute were made official, Tess Brooks-Stephens was listed after Cheryl Loudermilk for City Council District 3 in the Democrat Primary.

Since names are listed alphabetically Brooks-Stephens and her attorney Chris Gambill believe that her name should be listed ahead of Loudermilk.

The Vigo County Clerks office told News 10 that Brooks-Stephens filed “Brooks” as her middle name and “Stephens” as her last name.

When you look at a copy of the Declaration of candidacy form supplied to us by Gambill, the middle name space is left blank and the last name space is filled in as Brooks Stevens. You can see a copy of the form supplied to us by Gambill  below.

It has also been alleged that Brooks-Stevens changed her declaration form but Gambill said that was not possible since she didn’t have the form after she turned it into the clerk’s office.

The Vigo County election board met Monday and decided that the ballot will stay “As-is” and that the ballot cannot be corrected or changed.

Gambill has filed an appeal with the Vigo County Circuit Court and says that he believes that election law is clear, and that Brooks-Stevens should be listed alphabetically by the letter “B”.

Early voting begins April 9th.

Brooks-Stephens Declaration photo provided by Attorney Chris Gambill