In November, we had a rare situation arise when Kathy Kelker, representing Senate District 23, resigned from her position with two years left in her term. In this case, the state constitution instructs that the county commissioners will select a replacement from one of three nominations forwarded by the county central committee of the political party of the representative elected to that seat.
For this particular time, the process is as follows:
- A resignation is sent to the Secretary of State
- There are 7 days for the Secretary of State to inform the county commissioners as well as the state political party of the previously elected legislator
- The county central committee has 45 days to send three nominations to the county commissioner.
- This is done through a special convention of precinct leaders to elect three nominees. According to YCD bylaws, we must give at least 4 days notice of this meeting.
- The county commissioners have 15 days to make an appointment.
Upon appointment, the nominee is usually sworn in immediately.
The Yellowstone Democrats held our convention on November 20th and nominated Representative Emma Kerr-Carpenter, as well as Mark Nicholson and Rudolf Haden, who were all legislative candidates this year. Of note, Emma’s house district is part of Kathy’s senate district.
On December 3rd, within the 15 allotted days, the Yellowstone County Commissioners interviewed all three nominees, unanimously voted to appoint Emma Kerr-Carpenter and immediately swore her in to her new office.
But Wait There’s More
The state constitution does not allow one person to hold more than one elected seat, so that day, Senator Kerr-Carpenter submitted her resignation for her house seat, creating a new vacancy to fill.
The notifications to precinct leaders were sent that same day to meet again on December 9 to select three nominations to fill the vacancy in House District 46.
The Billings Gazette has a series of great articles on this work, starting with this great article honoring Senator Kelker’s service and the process to select three potential replacements.