On March 15, the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the certification of the November 2010 election returns for the Secretary of State race. Here is the 20-page decision in White v Indiana Democratic Party, 49S00-1202. White, the Republican nominee, had easily won that election, but later is was determined that he was not validly registered to vote when he was nominated. He has already been convicted of several felonies for voting at a location in which he did not live.

The Indiana Supreme Court determined that notwithstanding White’s voter registration problem, he was validly elected. The decision says that the Indiana Constitution’s provision that elections shall be “free and equal” means that the will of the voters should not lightly be set aside. Furthermore, it says if the Democratic Party wanted to challenge White’s qualifications, it should have done so before the election. It acknowledges that it might not have been easy for the party to know about the voter registration problem, but concludes “The Code places a burden on political campaigns to investigate and vet their opposition before the pre-election time limitations expire.”

Justice Brent Dickson did not sign the majority opinion. He agrees that the election returns are valid, and that White was elected, but his basis is that the Indiana Constitution sets forth the constitutional qualifications for Secretary of State, and they do not list being a registered voter as a qualification. Although he did not say so, his approach is consistent with decisions of the 9th circuit, and the 10th circuit, that states may not require congressional candidates to be registered voters. Those two cases were from California and Colorado. Both states asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn those cases, but the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state appeals. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.