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Thursday, August 18, 2011
Ind. Gov't. - "New ballot has no place for one-person race"
Interesting story today in the Lafayette Journal Courier, reported by Dorothy Schneider. Some quotes from the long story:
Voters who turn out this fall for municipal elections in Lafayette and West Lafayette will find some notable names missing from the ballot.Among them: Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski and City Clerk Cindy Murray, and West Lafayette Clerk-Treasurer Judy Rhodes.
They're not dropping out of the races. Those candidates simply don't have any opposition, so thanks to a new Indiana law, their names and offices will be removed from the ballot.
They're not too happy about it. And neither are local election officials, who are already making plans to deal with voters they expect will be confused by the blank spaces where names have traditionally been on ballots.
The new state law says "an election may not be held for a municipal office if there is only one nominee for the office."
That provision cleared the General Assembly this spring as part of a voluminous bill changing various election rules and procedures. It went into effect July 1. But it was only recently that local officials learned about it, and some officials are still trying to decode the rule.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 18, 2011 02:48 PM
Posted to Indiana Government