More than a few elected officials in Hendricks County have never appeared on a ballot, and that frustrates more than a few voters. “If we didn’t vote them in, they shouldn’t be able to tax us.”
Sorry you feel that way, but the law is the law. In Indiana, the law says that when a local elected official resigns or is removed from office before the end of their term, the body they serve has to appoint a replacement from among the district’s registered voters. And in most cases, the selection is made without any input from those voters.
The question I’ve heard most is perfectly valid: why can’t we allow the voters to decide who should fill the vacancy by voting on it? In a democratic republic like the U.S., the idea is that the governed decides who governs, right?
Makes perfect sense, except for two things. First is the pressure of time. From the moment an official resigns or is removed, the other elected officials have just 30 days to approve a replacement, and that approval must happen in a public meeting with advance notice. If they fail to do so, the county’s Circuit Court Judge (Dan Zielinski is ours) has to make the appointment. There’s no way you could register candidates, allow for campaigning, and hold an election within 30 days.
Before you say, “oh, that would be easy,” you need to know that an online poll or paper ballots at some kind of community meeting or whatever idea you’re about to propose won’t work. Any election has to meet the state’s election laws in terms of format, candidate registration, multiple polling places, voting machines, staffing, security, and many other factors. That’s to protect you, not to hinder you. Holding such an election would easily cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, even though it would be for just one seat.
The appointment process wasn’t designed to sneak around the voters; it was created to provide a quick replacement so the work of the body could continue with minimal interruption. And while it takes those decisions out of the voters’ hands, it puts them in the hands of the people who most understand the role and what’s needed.
Why would elected officials resign? The most common reason is a normal part of life: moving. Elected officials are required to live in the districts they serve, so if something leads them to move, they must give up their seats. They may face other family matters, such as a spouse or child who needs constant medical care. Every now and then, someone just gets fed up with their colleagues and stomps out the door. Some officials die in office. Removals of elected officials are rare and typically involve criminal matters.
(Full disclosure: I was appointed to my first year on the school board to replace a board member who had moved out of the district, but only after I had been elected to what’s known as the “staggered” term that would officially begin the following year. Before the election, the school board had publicly announced that whoever earned the “staggered” seat in the election would be appointed to complete the final year of the previous seat holder’s term.)