Dan Dumezich, a Scherville, Indiana lawyer–lobbyist who chairs the Hoosier State presidential campaign organization of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, also chairs the election board that will decide whether former Senator Rick Santorum will appear on the state’s May primary ballot. “I can be impartial,” Dumezich told the Indianapolis Star on Monday. “It doesn’t present a problem for me. Of course, if someone wants to argue [that he should step aside] I’d listen to it.”
The Election Commission will convene hearings soon to determine whether Santorum met the requirements for placing his name in contention for the 27 “pledged” GOP delegates to be awarded May 8. Another 17 unpledged delegates will round out the contingent for the June statewide Republican convention. On Monday, four voters filed official challenges to Santorum’s candidacy, claiming that he fell eight signatures short of the 500 required from one of Indiana’s nine congressional districts when he filed his candidacy papers last week.
The Star reported that while Santorum’s campaign claims it submitted more signatures than it needed, election officials ruled that he only collected 492 valid signatures from the Seventh Congressional District, an area including most of Marion County and the city of Indianapolis.
Full Article: Rick Santorum | Mitt Romney | Indiana | Dan Dumezich | The Daily Caller.