Chris supports local challenge to ballot law

2011 City Council Campaign
This post is part of a series:
  1. Chris Hardie Announces Council Candidacy
  2. The dance of newcomer and incumbent
  3. Demystifying running for office
  4. Put another white man in office?
  5. Going door to door
  6. Scenes from Primary Season
  7. Scenes from election day
  8. Chris wins in the primary!
  9. Post-primary analysis
  10. Why THIS city election matters
  11. On the 2012 City Budget Process
  12. Chris supports local challenge to ballot law
  13. Chris responds to public access questions for candidates
  14. Political parties and the "So What?" test
  15. Our 'insufficient' answers about hope
  16. A Plan for Richmond
  17. The balancing act in political candidate debates
  18. A Pledge to Voters
  19. Violent crime in Richmond
  20. Chris's campaign concludes, work continues
For more of my commentary on life in Richmond, Indiana check out RichmondMatters.com.
This post is more than 3 years old.

There are all sorts of ways the electoral process isn't optimized, either in making it more difficult than is necessary for voters to conveniently and clearly express their vote, or in making it more difficult than is necessary for some kinds of candidates to have a fair and equitable chance of receiving those votes.

We certainly don't need to be adding new ways to complicate the process or confuse voters, which is why Chris Hardie supports a recent legal challenge, initiated locally in Richmond by a number candidates and voters, to the recently amended Indiana Code 3-10-6-7.5 which says that you can't hold an election for an office when a candidate is unopposed.  As noted in recent articles in the Palladium-Item and in today's article, the challenge hopes to undo this bit of legislative hand-tying before the ballots are printed for upcoming Richmond city election.

Here's the full statement Chris's campaign released to the media earlier this week:

I support the legal challenge filed by local Democrats and Republicans. I think it's an important part of the democratic process for voters to retain the direct power to put candidates into office, even when those candidates are unopposed. While I appreciate efforts to streamline ballot printing and reduce costs, we cannot do so in a way that removes any candidate from the view of voters on Election Day.

If you would like to voice your own support for allowing all eligible candidates to be voted for on election day, even when running unopposed, please contact your Indiana state legislator.

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