White Recount
The Indiana Recount Commission is expected to render a decision tomorrow in the case of embattled Secretary of State Charlie White who is accused of voter fraud. State Democrats say that since White voted at his ex-wife’s address but was registered somewhere else, he should be declared ineligible to hold his office and the seat should go to Vop Osili. White’s attorneys called it an honest mistake, but there was no intent to defraud the voters. After reviewing some case law and testimony, I would not be surprised if the Commission comes back with a decision in White’s favor; not because Republicans have a 2-to-1 majority on the panel, but also because Democrats failed to deliver the knockout punch that would have sent White packing.
Democrat attorney Karen Celestino-Horseman went through a number of documents that had White’s condo address and White’s attorney Jim Bopp went through some other documents that had White’s other address on it. All that showed was that White got mail at two places. The question seems to be where does he reside?
If I understood the Democrats’ argument correctly, they were making the case that under state law the residency of an unmarried person, who is without immediate family, is where they sleep. White while not married at the time, did have immediate family, his son, who lived in the house where he voted from. Now White’s attorneys argued that an alternate statute should be used, because the “without immediate family” element of the prior statute was never met. They said his residency was with his immediate family. These may seem like splitting hairs, but I honestly think this where the ruling may come down. And then you throw in White’s arguments that he was going through a divorce, moving, remarrying, and running a statewide campaign, life gets more interesting.
And to throw another log on the fire, the case involving Evan Bayh and his residency when he ran for Governor is resurfacing. Particularly the rule that to hold office, one only need to be a resident of the state, it does not specify where one has to be a resident.
(And no, the irony of me of all people writing about this has not been lost.) Tomorrow’s decision should be interesting.
