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Saturday, February 03, 2007

Ind. Law - "Election official bows out of lawmaker's residency dispute"

The AP is reporting:

VALPARAISO, Ind. - The debate over whether a newly elected lawmaker actually lives in his northern Indiana district may be headed to court after a top state election official announced he'll stay out of the dispute.

J. Bradley King, the Republican co-director of the Indiana Election Division, said Friday he disagrees with his Democratic counterpart that the body has the authority to decide the case.

In a letter King sent Friday to his Democratic Co-Director, Pam Potesta, he said that it's too late for the Indiana Election Division to act in the case involving Republican State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso.

Had the issue been raised after Soliday was nominated by Republicans, King said, the election division would have had authority to act while he was still a candidate.

"The role of the election division regarding officeholders is limited to the ceremonial tasks of issuing certificates of election and commissions once the election process is completed," King said.

As a result, King said he would not be able to agree to issue any statement as the official position of the bipartisan election division. He did not offer an opinion as to who has the authority to resolve the dispute.

Democrats contend that Soliday does not live within his northern Indiana legislative district, as is required by law. In the November election, Democrats reclaimed control of the House and now have a 51-49 majority

Indiana Democratic Chairman Dan Parker said last week that he felt the dispute should be taken to court, where he hoped a special election would be ordered for the 4th House District.

Soliday said Friday he's growing increasingly frustrated with the partisan nature of the dispute, saying there appears to be no clear solution or explanation for the problem.

He said his house is just outside the district in one map on Porter County's own Web site and inside the district on another map. Both maps were prepared by state's legislative services office, Soliday said.

"You have two maps created by the state that say two different things," he said. "Who erred where? None of which is me."

Check out this ILB entry from Nov. 25, 2004, comparing the then-just-ended controversy over Indiana's District 46 race, and the then-just-looming controversy over a disputed state Senate election in Kentucky, where the issue was whether the apparent winning candidate, Dana Stephenson, met the district's residency requirements.

Here is the list of ILB Stephenson entries; here is a list mentioning "Dsitrict 46." There is some overlap. In this entry from Jan. 9, 2005, I wrote:

Yesterday I tried to put together a summary of the election dispute in Kentucky over "District 37" that is pitting the legislative branch against the judicial branch. I said: "It is relevant not only because it involves a neighboring state, but because such election disputes can and have happened here in Indiana, and may occur again."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 3, 2007 05:01 PM
Posted to Indiana Law