Johnson County vote
Public Question No. 1
Yes: 55.9%
No: 44.1%
Indiana voters seemed to have narrowly approved an amendment to the state’s constitution Tuesday.
With 95.6% of the votes in statewide, 53.6% of Hoosier voters voted in favor of ratifying an amendment to change the line of succession for governor. On ballots as Public Question No. 1, the question asked whether the state superintendent of public instruction should be removed from the list of officeholders who can discharge the powers and duties of the governor if the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor are both vacant.
Johnson County voters voted similarly to the statewide numbers, with 55.9% voting in favor of ratifying the change.
The Indiana Constitution establishes a line of succession that would come into play if both the offices of governor and lieutenant governor became vacant. The list had been, in order: speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, the Senate president pro tem, state treasurer, state auditor, secretary of state and state superintendent of public instruction.
However, the office of state superintendent of public instruction no longer exists as an elected position. State lawmakers in 2021 made the position a gubernatorial appointment rather than an elected office and renamed the job secretary of education.
State lawmakers first voted to make the state superintendent of public instruction position an appointed secretary of education position in 2017, moving up the state date in 2019 when then-Republican State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick declined to seek another term.
With the passage of the amendment, the line of succession for governor will be as follows: lieutenant governor, speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, the Senate president pro tem, state treasurer, state auditor and secretary of state.
Amending the state constitution requires passage of the amendment by two separate and consecutive Indiana General Assemblies, meaning those two votes have to take place with a statewide election between them. Once this occurs, the amendment goes before Hoosier voters for its final approval and ratification.
Indiana does not allow citizen-initiated constitutional amendments, meaning this is a rare chance for Hoosiers to vote on a ballot measure.
This amendment passed for the first time in 2022, before passing for a second time in 2023. No lawmakers voted against it in 2023.
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