VALPARAISO | Despite the recent push for a referendum, Porter County residents won't get to vote on the South Shore extension in November.
On Tuesday, the Porter County Board of Elections voted 2-1 to deny the nonbinding referendum that was requested by county commissioners. The request sought to add the following question to the fall ballot: "Are you in favor of the South Shore extension being brought to Valparaiso, Ind., if in fact it is going to require an additional local tax to either help build the extension or subsidize the service, yes or no?"
The election board voted against the move due to its "apparent illegality." Board members Patrick Lyp and Pam Fish voted against the referendum, while J.J. Stankiewicz voted in favor of it.
Before the vote, the board's attorney said his review of Indiana statutes showed the referendum was not permitted to be added to the ballot. Referendums are only allowed on local ballots in a limited number of circumstances -- such as when the Legislature mandates a question.
A referendum regarding the proposed $1 billion rail expansion project did not fit any of the parameters allowed, attorney Clay Patton said.
Fish said she contacted the state and found that if the county prints ballots containing the referendum, it may be forced to reprint them on the taxpayers' dime. The validity of the election also could be called into question, she said.
"I feel I need to be a good steward of taxpayer money and if this has the possibility to redo an election or reprint ballots, I cannot support it," Fish said.
Lyp, the Republican representative on the election board, said he also is concerned about setting a precedent if the referendum was allowed.
Although officials found no state laws that allowed the referendum, Stankiewicz supported the move because there were no laws that specifically prohibited it, he said. Stankiewicz said state laws restricting referendums referred to binding propositions, such as school construction projects, instead of nonbinding issues such as the one at hand.
"There's no case law interpreting what their statute means," Stankiewicz said.
Commissioner Carole Knoblock, who has been advocating the referendum, said she was disappointed by the board's final decision.
"We've just had so many people asking for this," Knoblock said.
County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger said the commissioners now can: drop the request, file a lawsuit against the election board or seek approval through the Legislature for a referendum in the spring.
Rinkenberger said commissioners likely will try to get a spring referendum.
