State law forbids any politician from occupying two conflicting offices, yet that may have happened in Montmorency County, where Republican Linsey Rogers won both Montmorency County treasurer and Atlanta Community Schools trustee seats on Nov. 5.

Rogers was the only candidate on the ballot for the treasurer position and one of three school board candidates for three open positions, making her a shoo-in for both races.

An assistant attorney general on the Board of State Canvassers said Rogers’ twin victories appeared to violate state law, and the incumbent county treasurer, Cheri Eggett, who ran as a write-in candidate for the treasurer post, sued in circuit court to try to force Rogers out of the treasurer’s post.

Rogers said in a Facebook post she doesn’t think the two positions conflict.

Lawmakers must address that issue more clearly in statute.

The Legislature could clearly spell out in state law which offices conflict with one another, rather than providing a general definition of the conflict, which is any two positions in which one has authority over the other or performing the duties of one office would create a breach of duty in the other office.

There aren’t really that many elected positions in Michigan, and lawmakers could identify in statute at least a majority of offices which would conflict, leaving the general definition in place should the unforeseen arise.

Then lawmakers should empower county clerks or local elections boards to determine before ballots get printed whether a candidate has filed for conflicting offices and force the candidate to choose one or the other.

Doing so would prevent costly and time-consuming court battles and provide clarity to both voters and taxpayers about who will represent them.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)