The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and Common Cause, an open government group, filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Secretary of State on Thursday. The complaint criticized Indiana’s unusual judicial elections practices, the Business Insider reported. Common Cause is a Justice at Stake partner organization.
The ACLU of Indiana contended that the law requiring all of Marion County’s superior-court judicial candidates to run unopposed was problematic. Twenty superior-court judges out of 36 are up for reelection this year.
Elaborating further, the ACLU of Indiana Director, Ken Falk, stated, “in Marion County, you’re given half a vote at the time of the primary election, and essentially nothing at the time of the general election.”
According to Indiana law, each major political party holds a primary to select candidates for half of the open seats. As a result, according to ACLU of Indiana, “the general election [is] a mere formality.”
Furthermore, voters have very little decision impact throughout the process. They have little say in the primaries to begin with, and even if they participate in the primaries, their votes are important for only half of the eligible candidates.No comments