The measured district

Making a new county

Indiana has no statute that lets residents organize a new county by petition. The code names ninety-two counties. Indiana Code 36-2-1-1 says their boundaries as of August 31, 1981, stay as they are until changed under Indiana Code 36-2-1-2. That section only moves territory from one existing county to another. It cannot create a ninety-third county, and it cannot be used for a split that leaves either piece under 400 square miles.

2 met18 not met2 do not apply

A filled box means this plan and this map already satisfy that test. An empty box means they do not. A bar means the test does not apply. The boxes are not a filing, and they cannot be checked off by hand.

The size rule

Article 15, Section 7 of the Constitution of Indiana says: “No county shall be reduced to an area less than four hundred square miles; nor shall any county, under that area, be further reduced.”

On the Census measurement used on this map, the twelve townships contain 375.07 square miles in all (372.90 of land). The rest of Allen County would contain 284.91 square miles in all (284.24 of land). Allen County now contains 659.98 square miles in all. Both resulting pieces are under 400. The piece that sets the floor is the remainder, not the proposed county. A minimum of 350 square miles would still forbid the reduction. The petition asks that the minimum be lowered to 275, which is under the measured remainder and leaves a margin if a later survey differs by a few square miles.

Counties already smaller than 400 square miles, such as Ohio County, are not a precedent for a new reduction. The same section says a county already under the minimum may not be reduced further.

• Both pieces at least 400 square miles, which is the constitutional minimum now

  Not met. The map measures the twelve townships at 375.07 square miles and the remainder of Allen County at 284.91.

• Both pieces at least 350 square miles

  Not met. The remainder, 284.91 square miles, is still under 350. The twelve townships, at 375.07, would clear 350. The smaller piece does not.

• Both pieces at least 275 square miles, the floor named in the petition

  Met. 375.07 and 284.91 are both above 275. That floor is not the law. It is the number the draft asks the General Assembly to propose.

How the Constitution is amended

Article 16, Section 1, as amended November 3, 1998, is the whole amending procedure:

• Agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each house, with the yeas and nays on the journals

  Not met. No amendment has been proposed. The petition asks for one. Asking is not a vote of the House or the Senate.

• Agreed to again by the General Assembly chosen at the next general election

  Not met. A later session of the same General Assembly would not count. This second vote has not happened.

• Ratified by a majority of the electors voting on it at the next general election

  Not met. The amendment has not been submitted to the voters of the state.

• A separate vote on each amendment, if more than one is submitted

  Does not apply. Article 16, Section 2. Nothing has been submitted, so this has not come up.

What the boundary statute actually requires

Indiana Code 36-2-1-2 does not apply to this proposal, because the territory is in one county and the split would drop Allen County below 400 square miles. If it did apply, the statute would still require all of the following:

• The territory lies in two or more contiguous counties

  Not met. The map is entirely inside Allen County. Indiana Code 36-2-1-2 only moves land from one existing county to another.

• Signatures of at least two percent of the last secretary-of-state vote in the territory

  Not met. Indiana Code 3-8-6-3. This site has collected none. That count belongs to a transfer petition, which this split cannot be.

• A clear, distinct description of the boundary

  Met. The map and the petition use the same line: Townships 29, 30, 31, and 32 North, Ranges 13, 14, and 15 East, twelve civil townships, each in full.

• The change does not decrease any county below 400 square miles

  Not met. The statute repeats Article 15, Section 7. This split would leave Allen County at 284.91 square miles. Amending the Constitution would not rewrite this sentence of the code.

• The county executive finds the signatures genuine and the petition in compliance

  Not met. Nothing has been filed with the Allen County executive.

• A special election, the same day in each county, not later than thirty days, and not on a general election day

  Not met. No election has been ordered. The conduct statute would be Indiana Code 3-10-8-6.

• Every voter of each interested county votes on “Shall the boundaries of ___ County and ___ County change?”

  Not met. That ballot is for a transfer between two counties. It does not organize a new one, and no election has been held.

• A majority of the voters of each interested county

  Not met. There are no returns. One county voting yes would not be enough even in a transfer.

• Orders filed with the secretary of state and the circuit court clerk, and commissioner and council districts redrawn

  Not met. No order exists. A transfer takes effect only when the last order is filed.

• An election under this section no more than once every three years

  Does not apply. No election under Indiana Code 36-2-1-2 has been held. The three-year limit is not what stops this plan.

For a transfer that does go through, Indiana Code 36-2-1-4 through 36-2-1-7 cover existing debt and taxes, the tax list, copies of deeds and mortgages, officers in the detached territory, pending court cases, and judgments already entered. Those sections assume the land is moving into a county that already exists. They do not set up a new county government.

The only new-county clause in the Constitution

The Schedule to the 1851 Constitution lets citizens of Perry County and Spencer County propose one new county from contiguous parts of those two, not more than one-third of either. The question goes to the voters of those counties at a general election. If a majority of all the votes given at that election are in favor, the General Assembly must organize the county. That clause names Perry and Spencer. It does not apply to Allen County.

• The new county is the one the Schedule allows from Perry County and Spencer County

  Not met. That clause does not name Allen County, and it limits the take to one-third of each of those two. This plan is outside it.

The path that would actually reach a new county

• Article 15, Section 7 amended so the minimum is no higher than the smaller piece

  Not met. Not ratified. The smaller piece on this map is 284.91 square miles, and the draft asks for 275, which is under that figure.

• A bill enacted after ratification

  Not met. Article 4, Section 1: no law except by bill. Indiana has no initiative. Signatures would not enact the county.

• The bill adds East Allen County to Indiana Code 36-2-1-1, uses this boundary, divides property and debt, and changes the 400-mile sentence in Indiana Code 36-2-1-2

  Not met. The petition asks for that. No such statute has been passed. The boundary itself is already written.

• A vote of the residents of the twelve townships, if the bill requires one

  Not met. The petition asks the General Assembly to require it. Current law does not. No referendum has been held.

The written boundary is in the documents. The petition is a draft of the request to the General Assembly. It has not been filed. This site does not take signatures.