Hearing and determination of contest; judgment declaring candidate elected or nominated; ineligible contestee only candidate; candidate or office vacancy; order for special election

Sec. 17. (a) A contest shall be heard and determined by the court without a jury subject to the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure. (b) The court shall determine the issues raised by the petition and answer to the petition. (c) After hearing and determining a petition alleging that a candidate is ineligible, the court shall declare as elected or nominated the qualified candidate who received the highest number of votes and render judgment accordingly. If the court rules that the contestee is ineligible, and no other individual was a candidate for nomination or election, the court shall declare that no candidate has been: (1) nominated at the primary, and that a ballot vacancy exists that the political party may fill under IC 3-13-1 or IC 3-13-2; or (2) elected at the general or municipal election, and that an office vacancy exists that may be filled under IC 3-13, subject to the right of an individual currently serving in the office to hold over in that office under Article 15, Section 3 of the Constitution of the State of Indiana. (d) If the court finds that: (1) a mistake in the printing or distribution of the ballots used in the election; (2) a mistake in the programming of an electronic voting system; (3) a malfunction of an electronic voting system; or (4) the occurrence of a deliberate act or series of actions; makes it impossible to determine which candidate received the highest number of votes, the court shall order that a special election be conducted under IC 3-10-8. (e) The special election shall be conducted in the precincts identified in the petition in which the court determines that: (1) ballots containing the printing mistake or distributed by mistake were cast; (2) a mistake occurred in the programming of an electronic voting system; (3) an electronic voting system malfunctioned; or (4) the deliberate act or series of actions occurred.