Marshall County Election Board to hold public hearing on campaign finance complaint against county council candidate

Thursday, May 7, 2026 at 4:00 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

The Marshall County Election Board will convene in a public meeting on Friday, May 8th, at 1:30 p.m. in the Clerk's Office at the Marshall County Courthouse to address a campaign finance complaint against a candidate who just won her primary race Tuesday night.

The board — comprised of Steve Harper (R), Susan Kreighbaum (D), and County Clerk Jenny Bennit (R) — will conduct a formal hearing to determine whether the political committee "Conservatives for Johnson," representing Deborah Johnson for County Council in District 2, violated Indiana Campaign Finance laws.

Specifically, the board will examine two potential violations: IC 3-9-4-14, Defective Report, and IC 3-9-3-2.5, Disclaimer Violation. Under Indiana law, Johnson's committee had five days following receipt of notice of the defective report to file a corrected or supplemental report with the County Clerk.

Should the board find in favor of the complaint, it will then consider whether to impose a civil penalty under IC 3-9-4-17.

The hearing comes just days after Johnson secured victory in the May 2026 Republican primary, defeating challenger Tom Flynn with 58.33% of the vote to advance to the general election.

Friday's public meeting is open to the public and will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the Clerk's Office in the Marshall County Courthouse.