Hill’s interference was ill-advised

Is Curtis Hill trying to be the most disliked elected official in state government?

As Indiana’s attorney general, Hill has already been asked to resign over groping allegations from four different women. 

The list of those who think he should step down looks like a who’s-who of the state Republican party: Gov. Eric Holcomb, House Speaker Brian Bosma, State Senate leader David Long and Secretary of State Connie Lawson.

Those are folks who might be expected to rally around Hill but found the accusations credible enough to call upon him to step down.

Now, while he fights those allegations, Hill has jumped into another controversy, picking a fight that is completely unnecessary.

Marion County election officials had been squabbling over the number of early voting sites for November. But eventually they reached a bipartisan compromise and agreed to six satellite early voting sites.

Then Hill jumped in.

He’s filed a motion to block the early voting centers, rejecting the bipartisan compromise.

To say that Secretary of State Connie Lawson is not pleased would be an understatement. It’s her office that oversees state elections, and it’s safe to say that she was comfortable with Marion County’s bipartisan compromise.

Hill’s motion, filed in his role as attorney general, is both an intrusion and an unneeded complication.

“Satellite voting is a bipartisan effort, and the attorney general’s filing does not reflect the will of Marion County voters,” Lawson said in a formal statement. “By his reckless action, the attorney general has disrupted more than 18 months of productive, bipartisan conversations.”

Then again, maybe Hill succeeded in distracting attention from his other woes. — J.R.