Hoosiers to vote on amendment to change Indiana’s gubernatorial succession

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- Indiana voters will see an important question on their ballots. A yes or no question that could impact the state’s gubernatorial line of succession.

The question asks if the state superintendent of public instruction should be removed from the list of officials who would step into the governor’s role if both the governor and lieutenant governor positions were vacant.

"The only time we get a public question that the whole state gets is, so the state legislature has to pass in two consecutive sessions, a constitutional change. And so, in this case, this constitutional change that we're getting, it's been two years in the making," Associate Professor of Political Science at Ball State University Chad Kinsella said.

Indiana lawmakers initiated this change after deciding in 2017 to make the superintendent of public instruction an appointed role instead of an elected one, aiming for greater consistency in education policy. Katie Jenner became the state’s first appointed Secretary of Education in 2021.

Jennifer McCormick, the last state superintendent and now the democratic candidate for governor, supports the change, saying that the line of succession should align with currently elected positions.

If approved, this amendment would limit the line of succession to elected officials, such as the house speaker, senate president pro tempore, and state treasurer. Lawmakers unanimously supported placing it on the ballot last year.

"I would say, kind of close the loop, so to speak, and essentially makes it out of the running to be in line of succession to be governor, because now it's appointed by the governor, whereas they want to leave the line of succession to be people who are elected by the people in the state," Kinsella said.

Kinsella believes this change won’t impact how state education officials interact with the governor's office in the future.

"It doesn't change the dynamic or anything the major changes already happened. It's just simply, I would consider this something kind of closing a loophole, so to speak," Kinsella said.