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Despite living in District 1, Curlin will be seated as a school board member at Washington Township

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Posted at 7:04 PM, Jan 09, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-09 20:42:54-05

INDIANAPOLIS — Everyone thought the Washington Township school board election was over last November — but it's not.

Alexandra Curlin will be seated tonight as an official member.

Although, the man whom she beat filed a case with the Indiana Court of Appeals today, challenging a lower court ruling.

Alexandra Curlin won the Washington Township school board seat with 51 percent of the vote. Three term school board member, Donald Kite Sr., lost with 49 percent of the vote.

But that is not the end of the story.

Curlin was running in district 2, but RTV6 learned after the election, she lives in District One.

A Marion County Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of Curlin. Saying in the ruling, this court is not in a position to disenfranchise voters post election.

That ruling did not satisfy Adrienne Peck. She has a 15-year-old daughter at North Central, and an 11-year-old at Grennbriar Elementary.

"The rules weren't followed," Peck said. "Until we can make sure that gets settled, I don't think anyone can be comfortable with that. So this is not over, I don't think it is."

In court documents we learned she actually lives in District One, but believed she did, in fact, live in District Two. There is a school board meeting tonight.

"My expectation is that she will be seated, and then our appeal will seek to unseat her," said Kite. "Essentially, tell the board that it has to seat me, because I was the only candidate who was qualified to run in District Two."

Curlin wants to move on.

In a statement, Curlin said, "I appreciate Kite's service and dedication. I look forward to serving as well as he did."

This all might have been avoided if Kite or other interested parties had challenged Curlin's residency prior to the deadline, on August 31.

"If the candidacy of the school board candidate was challenged during the challenging period, she could have been removed from the ballot," said Deputy Director of the Marion County Clerk's office, Russell Hollis. "Based on the fact that she did not live in the district."

That didn't happen, and Kite filed at the Indiana Court of Appeals late this afternoon.

It is possible that the board position could be declared vacant.

More updates to come.

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