Robbin Stewart P.O. Box 29164 Cumberland, IN 46229

Date: February 23, 2026

To:

1. Marion County Election Board / Marion County Government 200 E. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204
2. Indiana Political Subdivision Risk Management Commission 402 W. Washington Street, Room W469 Indianapolis, IN 46204
3. Chad Clingerman (in official capacity) c/o Marion County Election Board 200 E. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204

Re: Notice of Tort Claim – Incident on or about , February 2026

  

1. Claimant: Robbin Stewart, P.O. Box 29164, Cumberland, IN 46229.
2. Date, time, and location of alleged loss: On or about February 2026 during candidate filing, during business hours at the Marion County Election Board office, City-County Building, 200 E. Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN.
3. Short and plain statement of circumstances and extent of loss: As the Republican candidate for Marion County Clerk, I received my official candidate packet from Chad Clingerman (Ballot Administrator). The packet included the Political Literature Brochure threatening enforcement of Ind. Code § 3-9-3-2.5 against political literature without disclaimers. I asked Clingerman if he knew what he was doing. He said he did. We have corresponded about the law and Indiana Constitution. This is the county's second disclaimer offense against me personally (the first being in Stewart v. Taylor, where the anonymity ban was struck down).
4.       Mulholland v. Marion County Election Board, Ogden v. Marendt, and Stewart v. Taylor show a pattern of the Marion County Election Board resisting McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n protections for anonymous political speech. The constitutional rule against compelled disclosure, compelled speech, and content-based restraints on core political expression is well established, from West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), Talley v. California (1960), Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974), Wooley v. Maynard (1977), Riley v. National Federation of the Blind (1988), McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm'n (1995), Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation (1999), Watchtower Bible & Tract Society v. Village of Stratton (2002), Janus v. AFSCME (2018), NIFLA v. Becerra (2018), and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (2023). This case involves many of the same privacy concerns I discussed in my amicus brief in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (553 U.S. 181, 2008), where compelled identification in the election context risks chilling free speech, association, and participation. The Board's repeat enforcement of invalid or constitutionally suspect laws has caused reasonable apprehension of arrest and jail for displaying my planned 92 campaign signs stating "Robbin Stewart for Clerk Vote Tuesday." The threat of jail in Marion County is a threat of being held under unconstitutional conditions, which I experienced myself. This has inflicted emotional distress, chilled my free speech rights under Indiana Const. Art. 1 § 9 (and §§ 1, 2, 12), interfered with my campaign, and caused reputational harm.
5. Nature and extent of loss/injury: Emotional distress and reasonable apprehension of arrest and incarceration in Marion County jail under unconstitutional conditions (based on my prior personal experience there); chilled exercise of free interchange of thought and opinion and free speech under Indiana Const. Art. 1 § 9; violation of inherent rights under Art. 1 § 1; denial of remedy for injury under Art. 1 § 12; interference with free and equal elections and candidacy rights under Art. 2 § 1 and Art. 1 § 2; reputational harm from the implication of potential legal trouble during candidacy (exacerbated by the Board's repeat offender pattern in Ogden v. Marendt, Mulholland v. Marion County Election Board, and Stewart v. Taylor); related harms. Supporting evidence includes correspondence, brochure copy, and sign plans (available upon request).
6. Amount of damages claimed: $25,000 in compensatory damages for emotional distress and reasonable apprehension of arrest and incarceration in Marion County jail under unconstitutional conditions (based on my prior personal experience there), chilled exercise of free interchange of thought and opinion and free speech under Indiana Const. Art. 1 § 9 (and §§ 1, 2, 12), violation of inherent rights under Art. 1 § 1, denial of remedy for injury under Art. 1 § 12, interference with free and equal elections and candidacy rights under Art. 2 § 1 and Art. 1 § 2, reputational harm from the implication of potential legal trouble during my candidacy as Republican candidate for Marion County Clerk (exacerbated by the Board's repeat offender pattern in Ogden v. Marendt, Mulholland v. Marion County Election Board, and Stewart v. Taylor), and related injuries.

Signature: Robbin Stewart Date: February 23, 2026