(NETWORK IN and STAFF REPORTS) Secretary of State Connie Lawson will be on the ballot for re-election, despite a claim she’s ineligible. The state election board held a hearing on a complaint Tuesday and found in favor of Lawson.
Lawson served nearly three years as an appointed replacement for Charlie White, who was forced out when he was convicted of a felony. Frequent Libertarian candidate Andrew Horning argued that puts her in violation of Indiana’s two-term limit. State law specifically excludes time spent as a temporary appointee from that calculation, but Horning contends Lawson’s lengthy service before winning a full term in 2014 was not temporary but permanent.
In a news release, Horning claims Hoosiers were railroaded. He says that in February 2012…then Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Jerold A. Bonnett, then deputy Secretary of State as pro tempore to replace White. He says Bonnett held the office for a about month before Lawson and was meant to be the temporary appointee until a permanent successor was named.
