By MELISSA MOODY
Clark Circuit Court Judge Abraham Navarro is attempting to keep a local attorney out of the race for the seat in November.
Navarro hired New Albany attorney Bart Betteau to file paperwork to attempt to make Navarro the only person on the fall ballot for circuit court judge.
“Nothing is carved in stone this minute, but something will be done,” Betteau said. “We are going to take any action we can. What we hope to have happen is for the election laws to be applied uniformly.”
Navarro objects to an Aug. 1 decision by the Indiana Election Commission that allowed Moore to be placed on the ballot.
The state election board initially denied Moore’s candidacy for incorrectly filing paperwork.
The commission voted unanimously to allow Moore on the ballot, and also to throw out Moore’s filing to have Navarro removed.
Moore and Mike Gillenwater, the attorney representing him, said Republican Chairman David Buskill also filed election paperwork incorrectly. He sought to have Navarro’s candidacy denied if his was to be.
Moore expressed disappointment at Navarro’s challenge to his candidacy, saying he thought that both had settled the issue and agreed to run a fair race against each other.
“The commission spoke pretty unanimously on Aug. 1 and said, ‘Go have an election in Clark County,’” Moore said. “With both chairmen, there were errors in filing.
“(Navarro) has his choices, but I think this is something for the voters to decide.”
Navarro filed against Moore’s candidacy Aug. 21, Moore said, though the commission has not reviewed that filing.
Democratic Party Chairman Rod Pate’s filings to get Moore on the ballot were rejected by the state board because he filed late. Moore said the rules for electing a judge in a general election are different than those in a primary and that caused the mix-up.
