Some Indiana lawmakers are attempting to write into state law a skewed process for consolidating city and county governments.
Fortunately, this proposal and its "rejection threshold" won't apply to the November vote on merging Evansville and Vanderburgh County. However, other Indiana towns and counties should pay attention to this proposed law, and insist that all residents be treated fairly.
There are several bills that would require separate votes by city residents and county residents on consolidation. Majorities of each group would have to vote in the affirmative for government consolidation to be approved. To this, we always ask the same question — which county residents?
The truth is that in any county, all residents, whether or not they live in a city or town, are county residents. To take one group of county residents (those living outside a city) and give them a vote equal to the rest of the county residents is patently unfair.
It should be simple: Each registered voter in any Indiana county should be entitled to a single, equal vote. The decision on whether or not to consolidate should be based on a single, countywide referendum, as it will be in Vanderburgh County later this year.
Rejection thresholds on consolidation votes are intended for one purpose only — to defeat the proposal.