Lindsey Cornett was one of two candidates running for the Indianapolis Public Schools Board of Commissioners seat representing District 4 — until the Marion County Election Board voted her off the ballot earlier this month. Now she's asking a judge to put her back on it, and in the meantime, she's filed as a write-in candidate so voters can still choose her name in November.
The dispute traces back to a new Indiana law, Senate Bill 287, which for the first time lets school board candidates list a political party on the 2026 ballot, according to BillTrack50. To claim a Democratic or Republican affiliation, candidates generally must have voted in that party's last two Indiana primary elections, or get written certification from their county party chair, per guidance from the Indiana Secretary of State. Cornett's voter records showed she had not voted in the two Indiana Democratic primaries she reported on her candidate forms, according to WFYI.
District 4 covers the southwestern part of the school district, and the seat landed on this year's ballot after Allissa Impink resigned earlier in 2026, following her win in the Democratic primary for Indiana Senate District 46, WFYI reports. The IPS Board of Commissioners appointed Chris Bultman to fill that vacancy, and per the same account, he is now the only District 4 candidate currently listed on the ballot.
How the Challenge Unfolded
District 4 resident Bryan Regules filed the initial challenge against Cornett's candidacy in early July, alleging she lacked the required primary voting history, had signature problems on her filing petition, and missed the June 18 submission deadline, according to WFYI's earlier reporting. Election officials had initially accepted Cornett's filing after consulting legal counsel about the deadline question, that report noted.
A second, separate challenge came from District 4 voter Isaiah Tworek, who questioned whether Bultman's Democratic affiliation was legitimate, as reported by Mirror Indy. The Marion County Election Board rejected that challenge after confirming Bultman met the two-primary voting requirement, keeping him on the ballot as a Democrat.
Cornett told Chalkbeat Indiana that she had voted in only one Indiana Democratic primary — in May 2026 — since moving to the state in 2019, and said she mistakenly believed at filing time that her voting record qualified her without needing county chair approval. She described herself as a proud Democrat and said she would have been willing to run as an unaffiliated candidate if that had been allowed, Chalkbeat reported.
Board Votes to Strip Her Entirely
On August 10, the Marion County Election Board voted unanimously to uphold the challenge against Cornett and remove her from the ballot altogether, rather than simply stripping her party label. The board based that decision on guidance from the Indiana Election Division and interpretations from the bill's authors, who determined that misstatements on party eligibility require full disqualification, according to Chalkbeat's coverage — marking one of the first enforcement actions under Indiana's new partisan school board law.
Cornett argues neither candidate should have been removed from the ballot and that the law is being applied incorrectly, according to WFYI. Her petition for judicial review asks Marion Superior Court to examine the election board's rulings on both her removal and the dismissed challenge against Bultman, per the same report. Bultman, for his part, said he trusts the election board's decision and that his focus remains on representing District 4 to the best of his ability, WFYI reported.
A Write-In Backup Plan
The deadline for candidate challenges and write-in filings was noon on Monday, and Cornett filed as a write-in candidate before it passed, saying she did so to cover her bases. Write-in candidates do not appear printed on the ballot, and per election board rules, only votes for those who formally filed as write-ins will be counted and certified.
Marion County election administrators are set to print the first batch of 2026 general election ballots in mid-September, leaving Marion Superior Court a narrow window to rule, according to The Indiana Lawyer. Court documents indicate a ruling is expected no later than September 11. Indiana law grants candidates 30 days to seek judicial review of election board rulings, the outlet noted.
Cornett said she is determined to stay in the race to give voters a choice, according to WFYI. No other Marion County school board races this cycle have seen candidate challenges or write-in candidates, the outlet reported, underscoring how unusual the District 4 fight has become. Whoever ultimately wins the seat will serve out the remainder of Impink's term, which would otherwise not have been up for election again until 2028.
Background: A Rematch Years in the Making
Cornett and Bultman aren't strangers in this race. The IPS Board of Commissioners chose Bultman over Cornett in a 5-1 vote in June to fill Impink's vacancy through the end of 2026, according to Chalkbeat's reporting on the appointment. Cornett, a former Florida public school teacher and mother of three IPS students, works as a writer and editor for congregation engagement at Englewood Community Development Corporation and had highlighted parent representation and public school advocacy during her board application, per Chalkbeat. Bultman serves as regional director of external affairs for Concept Schools, a charter management organization supporting the Indiana Math and Science Academies, and previously worked as a classroom teacher; he has pointed to literacy, math achievement, and enrollment growth as key district priorities, according to Indianapolis Public Schools.
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