Sec. 2.1. (a) Except as provided in this section, the secretary of state and the designee of the state chairman of each of the major political parties of the state shall serve as members of the state recount commission.

     (b) Except as provided in this section, the secretary of state shall serve as the chair of the state recount commission.

     (c) If an election to the office of secretary of state is the subject of a petition filed under IC 3-12-11, final determination of all petitions filed under IC 3-12-11 relating to that election must be made before January 1 after the election.

     (d) The secretary of state may not serve on the commission if the secretary of state is:

(1) a petitioner under IC 3-12-11; or

(2) named as a candidate in a petition under IC 3-12-11;

until the commission makes a final determination under IC 3-12-11 of all related petitions in which the secretary of state is a petitioner or is named.

     (e) If the secretary of state may not serve on the commission under subsection (d), the state chairman of the same major political party as the secretary of state shall designate another individual to serve as a member and chair of the commission. The other individual must have voted in the most recent primary election of the political party of the state chairman making the appointment. The individual serves until the commission issues its final determination of all petitions relating to the election that are described in subsection (d). The secretary of state shall then resume as a member and the chairman of the state recount commission.

     (f) An individual who serves on the state recount commission as secretary of state ceases to be a member of the commission when the individual ceases to be secretary of state.

As added by P.L.8-1995, SEC.56.