November ballot will ask voters about changing the Indiana governor's line of succession

Hoosiers going to the polls in November will find a question on their ballots asking if they want to amend the Indiana Constitution to revise the list of elected state officials who can succeed the governor.

The proposed amendment revises Article 5, Section 10, which outlines the process for succession if the sitting governor resigns, dies or becomes incapacitated. Namely, the lieutenant governor would be elevated to governor, but if the second in command also cannot fulfill the duties of the top office, then the Indiana General Assembly would have to convene within 48 hours to elect a governor from the same political party as the immediate past governor.

In the interim between the governor and lieutenant governor’s offices becoming vacant and the legislature installing a new governor, the constitution provides a list of elected officials who would discharge the powers and duties of the governor. Sixth on that list is the state superintendent of public instruction, but since that position was switched from elected to appointed in 2021, Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, thought the state’s top education official should no longer be in line to assume the governor’s office.

“The question on the ballot is really clean-up language from when the state superintendent of public instruction was changed to the secretary of education,” Prescott said. “Since we no longer have that state superintendent of public instruction, we’re striking that language to allow parity with the other elected positions that are in that line of succession, so we do not have a path in place for an appointed position to be acting governor.”



https://www.thestatehousefile.com/politics/november-ballot-will-ask-voters-about-changing-the-indiana-governor-s-line-of-succession/article_a8b24804-6aed-11ef-b68f-0b2ae30e3a78.html