CROWN POINT | The Lake County elections board meets today with no intention still of holding a special election on public transportation next month.
"I'm sure there will be discussion on it, but there is still no funding, so there is no action to take," said Michelle Fajman, county elections director.
A voter lawsuit may be the only way to force the county to participate in a Nov. 3 referendum that the General Assembly mandated earlier this year, Jim Gavin, a spokesman for Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, said Monday.
The state legislature responded earlier this year to pleas for state financing of public bus and commuter trains in Northwest Indiana by ordering Lake, Porter, LaPorte and St. Joseph voters to decide next month whether the four counties should create a Regional Transportation District, with power to unify community bus services into one regional entity and to levy a tax to finance its operation.
Porter and St. Joseph counties have decided to go ahead with the election, but Lake County council members and commissioners refuse to authorize the $414,000 needed to field an army of poll workers for the county's more than 500 polling places and tally the vote this year, when the same referendum would cost nothing next year when regular elections are held.
Fajman said, "We already have missed quite a few deadlines to hold an election next month, and I don't see how we could get one ready that fast. I'm sure there will be discussion on it about whether it will go on the primary ballot next year or do we wait for new legislation."
"It's pretty straightforward, that the requirement for this referendum is just that, a requirement," said Gavin, of the attorney general's office. "It was signed into law by the governor and is just as binding as all other parts of the law."
Lake County elections Director Sally LaSota said the elections board sent letters to the governor, Attorney General Greg Zoeller, the Indiana Elections Commission and state lawmakers Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, and state Rep. Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, asking for help to get the board out of the dilemma.
Gavin said his office only received a copy of the letter when St. John Republican Party Chairman Joe Hero recently forwarded his copy to Rokita. He said Rokita responded by telling the county to hold the election.
If the county refuses, Gavin said, "It wouldn't be up to anyone in government to do anything. It would be up to individual voters in Lake County. Any voter in Lake County would have the right to make the officials perform their duty by bringing an action in court to mandate that they follow the law."
Hero, who has been urging the county to hold the referendum, said he tried to cast an absentee ballot but was denied the opportunity. He said he has filed a formal complaint, which he hopes will be taken up at today's elections board meeting.
What is the Regional Transportation District?
The Regional Transportation District would oversee the South Shore commuter railroad and bus service in Lake and Porter counties. It also would oversee the South Shore but no buses in LaPorte and St. Joseph counties. For all that to happen, voters have to approve its creation in a referendum Nov. 3.
The current Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority is not designed to manage transportation systems. It is a funder of transportation projects. Also, proponents say an organization like the RTD is needed to do long-range planning for mass transit, which is also something the RDA does not do.
