[EL] Breaking: Indiana SOS Removed from Office; More News

[Thomas J. Cares]

There's no controversy over the constitutionality of that kind of
succession system?

It has an unconstitutional feel to it.

If I were to try to whip up a specific argument on the fly, I'd say you're
disenfranchising those who voted for the winner, because now the selection
of the Secretary of State is changing to become the product of what that
election would have been, had the state made the one difference of
excluding those voters. Unlike filling vacancies with new elections or
gubernatorial appointments, this seems to violate 'one person, one vote.'

Would that be meritless?



Thomas Cares



On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 6:48 PM, William Groth <wgroth at fdgtlaborlaw.com>wrote:

> Under Indiana law, when the Recount Commission (or a court on review)
> determines that a candidate was not eligible to serve, "the candidate who
> received the second highest number of votes for the office is entitled to
> a...certificate of election". Ind. code 3-12 -11-25.
>
> Bill Groth
>
>
> ------- Original Message ------- On 12/23/2011  02:02 AM Even, Jeff (ATG)
> wrote:
>
> I’m curious about the statement that if the decision stands, the
> second-place candidate would take office.  We addressed that question in a
> formal Opinion of the Attorney General several years ago, which is
> available online.  As we discussed there, the majority rule at common law
> is that the death or disqualification of a candidate does not render the
> votes cast for that candidate invalid, and does not make the losing
> candidate the winner of the election.  Rather, the result is a vacancy in
> office which is then filled by whatever procedures are set forth for
> filling vacancies.  So does Indiana perhaps have a contrary statute, or
> follow a minority common law rule?
>
>
>
>
>
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:
> law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Hasen
> Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 5:48 PM
> To: law-election at UCI.EDU
> Subject: Re: [EL] Breaking: Indiana SOS Removed from Office; More News
>
>
>
> Stay and appeal are coming:
> Breaking (and Major) News: Indiana Secretary of State White Removed from
> Office by Trial Court
> Posted on December 22, 2011 1:17 pm by Rick Hasen
>
> The ruling is here.  If there is no (successful) appeal, the second place
> finisher, Democrat Vop Osili, becomes Indiana’s Secretary of State.
>
> UPDATE:  Emergency relief sought:
>
> The commission is seeking an emergency stay of the ruling, said A.J.
> Feeney-Ruiz, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, of
> which the commission is a part.
>
> The panel will seek to do so through Indiana Attorney General Greg
> Zoeller’s office, he said.
>
> Zoeller’s office said it has not yet discussed the matter with the
> Indiana Recount Commission.
>
> “We’ve not met with them yet. I’m sure we’ll be
> meeting with them soon to see how they want to proceed. We do not represent
> Charlie White the candidate,” said Bryan Corbin, a spokesman for the
> attorney general’s office.
>
> If that request for a stay is granted, it would mean that White will
> remain in office as the legal case plays out.
>
>
>
> Posted in SOS White | Comments Off
>
> On 12/22/2011 1:18 PM, Rick Hasen wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 - office
> 949.824.0495 - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
> http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
> http://electionlawblog.org
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
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>
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