Judges in Indiana county await changes to judicial selection method
April 18, 2011
Indiana: The Indiana State Legislature last week passed a bill that includes a change to the way a judicial election is conducted in Lake County. Currently, three out of four judges on the Superior Court there are chosen via merit selection. If Governor Mitch Daniels agrees, soon all four will face retention elections.[1]
In the County Division of Lake County, the judge is still selected in a popular election. Looking for a way to save the county money, State Senator Dorothy "Sue" Landske proposed merit selection for all four judges. Officials in Lake County estimate that the measure will save the county $600,000 each year.[1]
Indiana has a unique patchwork of judicial selection, allowing each county to determine how its Superior Court judges are elected. Most of them compete in partisan elections, though in Vanderburgh and Allen judges are elected in nonpartisan elections. Lake County is only one of two that selects its judges via merit selection.[2]
This bill is passing through the legislature in a year when merit selection is under attack across the nation. The debate over this legislation frames the most frequently used arguments about methods of judicial selection. Commissioner Fran DuPey said, "People who serve the public should be elected and that’s it. I see no reason why they shouldn’t have to run." Meanwhile, other commissioners in Lake County voted to support the legislation, "contending the selection process will remove politics from the court."[1]
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