On December 22, a Marion County Circuit Court ruled that Charlie White, who was elected Indiana’s Secretary of State with a 57.1% share of the vote in November 2010, was not a validly registered voter when he filed for office. The 8-page decision is here. Therefore, because he was registered at an address which was not his actual residence, the court concluded that White should be removed from office. Under Indiana law, assuming the decision is not reversed on appeal, Vop Osili, the Democratic Party nominee for that office in 2010, who only polled 37.0% of the vote, becomes the new Secretary of State. Osili was elected to the Indianapolis city council last month and is Nigerian-American. His first name is an acronym for “Voice of the People.”
White and the state have asked the Circuit Court to stay its ruling, while the case is appealed.
It seems fundamentally undemocratic that the decision of the voters should be set aside, just because the winning candidate filled out an incorrect declaration of candidacy. At the least, one would wish that the office would now be declared vacant, and perhaps a special election to fill it could be held in November 2012. The term of office is four years. White is facing separate criminal charges in another state court; he is charged with the crime of putting an incorrect address on his voter registration form and his declaration of candidacy. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Oops!
The issue was not with his candidacy registration, but his voter registration. While I see your point, I question Whites qualifications for secretary of state when he couldn’t even register to vote correctly! I like the court’s decision. It couldn’t hurt this Republican-dominated state to have a Democratic SOS anyway.
Just think, if we could find something wrong with Osili’s candidacy, the next candidate down on the ballot is a Libertarian!
But those same powers to be have no problem kicking others off the ballot for the same thing. I do see your point Richard, but it’s not good to have two sets of standards.
Qualified or NOT Qualified to hold ANY office.
See the OLDE quo warranto cases – by what right do you hold the office ???
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Having the 2nd place person fill the vacancy is EVIL N-U-T-S — part of the New Age insanity.
Obviously in a SANE regime, another officer would fill the vacancy by law or by appointment (by another officer or by a legislative body) — pending any special election.
Give the office to a loser who only received the support of only 37% of the electorate? Since when are there 2nd place winners in elections?
I believe the reason almost half the people stay home on election day is that they suspect the system is rigged.