Posted by
reasonmclucus on Thursday, December 11, 2008 2:46:57 PM
The current Illinois scandal involving the governor's alleged attempt to sell President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat demonstrates we need a constitutional amendment requiring special elections to choose replacement Senators. In the future, there will always be a question about the possibility of some type of secret deal involved in a governor's selection of a new Senator. How can voters be sure that a political or monetary favor was not involved in the selection?
The timing of the election should be sufficient to allow preparation for conducting the election while insuring selection of a replacement as soon as possible..
The only possible exception might be in a general election year if there were four months before the scheduled primary or general election. Conduct of a special election might hamper preparation for these elections. In this case the legislature, rather than the governor, might be allowed to select an interim Senator from among those wishing the office who would serve until the primary or general election.