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Monday, August 22, 2011
Ind. Gov't. - "A new law that we did not seek and do not need "
Updating this ILB entry from August 18th, the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel this morning has this editorial. Some quotes:
Members of the Indiana General Assembly last session passed a law they didn't talk about openly. They didn't bother to inform the affected parties that the new law was coming or what it would do. Nobody asked for the law to be passed. It solves no problem, creates nothing good. It will eventually affect virtually every Hoosier voter. Who could possibly object?Almost everybody, of course.
The law will strip from election ballots the names of candidates who face no opponents. If there's only one candidate for mayor, say, or county prosecutor, that office will simply not be on the ballot. It went into effect in July, so look for all those empty spaces in the coming city election. Or rather, don't bother to look.
The sponsor of the legislation, State Rep. Kathy Richardson, R-Noblesville, said the purpose was “to cut costs and create more efficient ballots.” Really? The only costs that might be saved – and not that much in savings – would seem to be in places that still use paper ballots, and then only if there are enough uncontested races to reduce the ballots by at least a page. * * *
Even if we don't think this will cause widespread confusion – that sounds a little alarmist – this just seems like a dumb move. A ballot should not be just a means of casting our votes but something that shows the totality of a particular election – something for the history books. And how many votes an unchallenged candidate gets can tell us something about the person's popularity – or lack of it.
It's important for legislators to be able to recognize problems and respond with the appropriate legislation. But it's equally important for them to know when something is working and to simply leave things alone. This may not be the dumbest piece of legislation to come out of the General Assembly last session, but it will do until the real thing comes along.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 22, 2011 09:53 AM
Posted to Indiana Government