When the Indiana General Assembly changed the rules to be a candidate for elective office, they opened the proverbial can of worms.
The requirement to run for office in the past was that a candidate had to vote in one primary election.
The state law was changed to require that a potential candidate vote in two primary elections of the same party.
What it effectively did was put the power into the hands of the party chairman in all 92 counties to determine who could appear on the ballot.
Since the new law went into effect, a number of local candidates were removed from the primary ballot for several county, state and party positions because the requirement of voting in two primaries had not been met.
An episode this past week offered a perfect example of why the new rule is causing more problems than it solved.
Donita Thompson, a Democrat seeking the party’s nomination for the 6th District seat on the city council, was challenged by incumbent Joe Newman.
County records showed that Thompson voted Democrat in last year’s primary, but although those records showed she voted in 2016, her party affiliation was listed as unknown.
Every official agreed it was a poll worker error, but until Newman withdrew the challenge, there was a chance that Thompson would not have appeared on the primary ballot.
A similar situation took place in Elwood, where Republican mayoral candidate Ricky Payne was removed from the ballot under the same circumstances.
Any potential candidate who has not voted in at least two primaries of the same party must get a waiver signed by the respective party chairman.
The waiver decision is determined by one person in each party: the chairman.
A chairman can decide not to sign a waiver in a race for a nomination where they favor one candidate over another, or to eliminate potential competition or for any other reason.
Anderson City Councilman Ollie H. Dixon raised two valid points during a recent discussion.
If someone moves to Indiana from another state and decides to seek an elective office, they would need a signed waiver because there would be no primary voting history in the Hoosier State.
The second point was that a person turning 18 and voting for the first time would also be unable to run for office.
The state law should be amended to return to the requirement to vote in one party primary.
Ken de la Bastide
The Herald Bulletin (Anderson)
