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Thursday, February 01, 2007
Ind. Decisions - "Court refuses to disqualify candidate"
The AP has a story on yesterday's Court of Appeals decision in the case of J. Bradley King and Krisi Robertson in their official Governmental capacities as Co-directors of the Indiana Election Division, et al. v. Leo T. Burns, et al. (see ILB entry here):
- The Indiana Court of Appeals refused to disqualify a candidate whose paperwork was filed at the wrong office before he won the election.While there was no dispute that the form certifying Leo Burns' candidacy was filed at the Cass County clerk's office instead of the Indiana Election Division as state law requires, the mistake did not affect the outcome of the election, the three-judge panel ruled Wednesday.
"We decline to disenfranchise the voters of Cass County by overturning their decision that Burns should be their circuit court judge, based on a technical violation of a law that had no practical effect on the validity of the November 7, 2006 general election," Judge Michael P. Barnes wrote in the nine-page opinion.
Burns publicly announced his candidacy for circuit judge on May 14 after no Democrat ran in the primary election, and a Democratic caucus picked him as the party's candidate on May 23.
The next day, the county chairman filed a form certifying Burns as the Democratic candidate at the county clerk's office. But state law requires the form to be filed with the state, not the county, and the county clerk did not forward the form to state election officials.
In August, Burns discovered his name wasn't on an online roster of candidates certified in the election, and found out about the missing form when he called the state Election Division. The next month, Burns obtained a court injunction ordering the state to certify him as a candidate. Election officials appealed but were denied a stay of the order, and Burns appeared on the ballot and won the election.
Declaring Burns' candidacy invalid at this point based on a technicality would defeat the purpose of the election, the judges ruled.
"There is no allegation here of any fraud in Burnss candidacy or in the November 7 general election, nor any assertion or evidence that he failed to comply with every statute governing elections and qualifications for a circuit court judge, save one," the ruling said.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 1, 2007 08:57 AM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions