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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Ind. Courts - Still more on "Judicial candidate's registration in question"

The controversy continues.

Ben Hershberg reports today in the Louisville Courier Journal:

Citing errors in the nomination process, the chairman of the Clark County Democratic Party has asked state election officials to reject the Republican nominee for circuit court judge.

In a petition mailed yesterday to the Indiana Election Division of the secretary of state's office, Democratic Chairman Rod Pate also acknowledged he made errors and asked for the state election commission to hold a hearing on both parties' nominations.

Pate requested a 30-day extension of the July 3 deadline to nominate candidates properly.

"I think people would rather vote for a judge than have one appointed by the governor," he said in an interview.

But Abe Navarro, the Republican nominee who was appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels to the bench for the rest of this year after Circuit Judge Daniel Donahue retired at the end of May, said he believes his nomination was handled properly. * * *

Pate contends that both parties missed deadlines for sending notices to the secretary of state about their nomination procedures. If there are no valid nominees, he said, he believes Daniels would appoint a judge to serve for the next two years, until the next county election, unless the deadline is extended. * * *

Leslie Barnes, the Democratic co-counsel of the election division, said the nominations must be certified by Aug. 22 if the candidates' names are to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Barnes said yesterday that "there are numerous questions with both filings" but that the election commission has the authority to extend the nominating deadline.

According to state law, an extension can be granted for a natural disaster or other emergency that makes it unreasonable to require nominations to be completed by the usual deadline.

Barnes said it's up to the commission to decide if it will review the matter and, if it does, whether to grant an extension. As of yesterday, neither nomination had been certified, she said.

Melissa Moody of the Jeffersonville Evening News & Tribune had a long report yesterday evening, July 8th.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 9, 2008 08:52 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts