Is Halter Eligible?
UPDATE: HALTER HAS BEEN RULED ELIGIBLE. THIS RULING SHOULD ALSO REMOVE ANY DOUBT ABOUT ASA's ELIGIBILITY
Judge Mary McGowan will rule today on whether Bill Halter is eligible to run for the office of Lt. Governor. The Constitution of Arkansas says that you must be a resident citizen of Arkansas for seven years to be eligible. Halter meet that requirement, but not as an adult. After age 18 he left the state for college and has rarely been back since. Still, the Constitution does not specify that the residency requirement can only be met as an adult, and Halter has always been registered as an Arkansas voter. My prediction is that this part of the lawsuit will go nowhere. It is only designed to highlight that Halter got out of Arkansas as soon as he could and now only returns to be our Lt. Governor.
More interesting is that the constitution requires that candidates for the state Senate and House must have lived in the state for at least the four years prior to being elected. The Lt. Governor is also referred to as "the President of the Senate" and casts a vote in the Senate in the case of ties. Lt. Governor is a crossover office with both legislative and executive branch duties. Can a man be President of the Senate who is not Constitutionally qualified to serve in the Senate? I hope judge McGowan examines that question today.
Judge Mary McGowan will rule today on whether Bill Halter is eligible to run for the office of Lt. Governor. The Constitution of Arkansas says that you must be a resident citizen of Arkansas for seven years to be eligible. Halter meet that requirement, but not as an adult. After age 18 he left the state for college and has rarely been back since. Still, the Constitution does not specify that the residency requirement can only be met as an adult, and Halter has always been registered as an Arkansas voter. My prediction is that this part of the lawsuit will go nowhere. It is only designed to highlight that Halter got out of Arkansas as soon as he could and now only returns to be our Lt. Governor.
More interesting is that the constitution requires that candidates for the state Senate and House must have lived in the state for at least the four years prior to being elected. The Lt. Governor is also referred to as "the President of the Senate" and casts a vote in the Senate in the case of ties. Lt. Governor is a crossover office with both legislative and executive branch duties. Can a man be President of the Senate who is not Constitutionally qualified to serve in the Senate? I hope judge McGowan examines that question today.
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Wednesday, May 10, 2006
3 Comments:
Is the four year requirement part of the lawsuit? How will Halter get around that?
The office is Lt. Gov. and the qualifications are specifically laid out. The service to the Senate is ex officio (from the office) but the office is not a Senator. Qualifications for a Senator are irrelevant (double entendre not intended, but accepted).
That makes sense. Thank you for the clarification.
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