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If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is?

If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is?

  • The people, by having another election.

    Votes: 11 68.8%

  • A governor or some other elected official.

    Votes: 1 6.3%

  • The politician leaving his office(assuming he left on good terms)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • The opponent of the politician leaving office.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • other

    Votes: 4 25.0%
  • Total voters
    16
jamesrage

jamesrage

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If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is?

The people, by having another election.
A governor or some other elected official.
The politician leaving his office(assuming he left on good terms)
The opponent of the politician leaving office.
other.


With Illinois governor accused of selling/auctioning off Obama's seat it is apparent that elected officials can not be trusted to do the job.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is


I think it should go to the people, unless there is a person like a vice-president or Luitenent Governor ready to step in.

For the senate seat, there should always have been an election because, like you said, elected officials cannot be trusted (especially here in Illinois).
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

The people, for sure.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

The people. They can't always be trusted either, but it's less corrupt.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

The choice should be made according to the state constitution.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

American said:
The choice should be made according to the state constitution.
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I should have voted for a Constitutional Convention. My bad.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

Tucker Case said:
:doh

I voted for it...
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Yeah, but you are a better person than I.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

American said:
Well it wasn't a choice, so I picked other.
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I was talking about the Illinois ballot this past election.

Not this poll. Sorry for the confusion.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

Tucker Case said:
But I can't lick my eyebrows, so you got that goin' for ya... which is nice. :2razz:
Click to expand...

You need to hire someone to do that for ya.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

Ideally, it should be the people but that means the seat will remain empty for at least a couple of months while the election is set up, people campaign, the vote is held, etc. That may not always be the best idea, unfortunately, it means that the state goes unrepresented for quite some time.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

American said:
The choice should be made according to the state constitution.
Click to expand...

What does your state's constitution say on how to deal with the subject of replacing politicians who leave their office before their term expires?
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

jamesrage said:
What does your state's constitution say on how to deal with the subject of replacing politicians who leave their office before their term expires?
Click to expand...
I don't know.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

In NY the Governor appoints the replacement but as more talk arrises that Caroline Kennedy might get it, I rather have an election but Cephus makes a good point regarding electing a replacement in mid-term.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

American said:
I don't know.
Click to expand...

So in other words you do not know what idea you support.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

jamesrage said:
So in other words you do not know what idea you support.
Click to expand...
You really are dim aren't you? I support what the state constitution says, and it doesn't really matter as long as it's constitutional.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

I think the runner up from the previous election would be a good idea.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

American said:
I support what the state constitution says, and it doesn't really matter as long as it's constitutional.
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I find it amusing that you would say what ever your state constitution says when you do not know jack **** what it says. How do you know that you actually agree with it? Is this "I support what ever my state constitution says",when you do not know what it says a way of saying you could care less who gets to pick a replacement? Is it a way of saying that you do not mind if corrupt politicians have the opportunity to auction off political offices to the highest bidder?
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

I think the best idea is to have a special election as soon as possible. That would probably be no more than a year from the resignation/death of the previous office-holder.

However, I don't have a problem with certain states allowing the governor to appoint a replacement in the interim. As long as said governor isn't, say, selling the office to the highest bidder.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

Special elections are somewhat unrealistic. As stated earlier, they can take beyond a year to do, cost significant sums of money and quite frankly be a distraction.

A better alternative would simply be to have the governor nominate a candidate and have the state legislature confirm or reject on a super majority basis. Cheaper and faster and at least in theory democratic. Plus this would allow the minority to effectively ensure scum like Illinois's governor don't get his way.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is

obvious Child said:
Special elections are somewhat unrealistic. As stated earlier, they can take beyond a year to do, cost significant sums of money and quite frankly be a distraction.
Click to expand...

I don't see why they would take beyond a year. Many states allow for special elections, and I've never heard of them having any more problems than any other elections.

Since most states have some kind of elections at least twice a year (April-ish and November), I don't see what would be so difficult about adding another race to the ballot.

As for the cost...well, elections are always an expense in a democracy. That shouldn't be the overriding factor though.


Ya but that would still occasionally result in situations like this, if the minority either A) doesn't know about the illicit dealings, or B) is a part of the illicit dealings themselves.

I think that governors should be able to appoint replacements on a very short-term basis...but only because there's the possibility of a terrorist attack on Washington that destroys much of Congress.

Overall, a special election is much more democratic and cleaner.
 
Re: If a politician leaves his office,who should get to decide who the replacement is


Interesting question this.. I could remind of Tony Blair when he left the prime minister job, the party then elected Gordon Brown, and he was put in power without election by the people..
Such important posts should always be decided on by the people, not that I support single people with so much power(in such posts), but rather new politics where such posts doesn't exist.
 
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