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2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Clark County Commissioner, District 3

Voted on across Clark County, in district 3. Open seat: Bryan Glover is not on the ballot.

Find your exact ballotAll Clark County races

Who votes on this seat: Commissioners must live in their district, but every voter in the county votes for this seat. Indiana Code 36-2-2-5

What this office does

In 91 of Indiana's 92 counties, a three-member board of commissioners is the county executive and conducts the county's business in the board's name [1, 2]. Commissioners administer county government affairs that state law does not assign to a separately elected officer, while the county council, a separate elected body, controls budgets, tax rates and salaries [2, 3, 4]. Marion County is the exception: under the consolidated Indianapolis–Marion County government (Unigov), the mayor holds most executive power, and the elected county assessor, auditor and treasurer serve as the county commissioners, with duties that mostly concern county finances [5, 2, 6].

The job in full — the duties the Indiana Code puts in it, the term, what it pays and who sets that, and what to ask a candidate.

Term
4 years, starting January 1 after the election; seats are staggered, so one or two of the three seats are filled at each general election [7]
Elected
On the partisan general-election ballot; each commissioner represents a district and must live in it, but in every county except Lake and St. Joseph the whole county votes on every commissioner seat; in Lake and St. Joseph counties only the district's voters choose [8, 9]
Term limit
None stated; the statute that sets the four-year term does not limit how many terms a commissioner may serve [7]
Qualifications
Must have lived in the county at least one year and in the commissioner district at least six months before the election, and be registered to vote in the election district; a county employee who is elected must leave that county job on taking office [10, 9]
Pay
Set locally: the county council fixes the compensation of county officers in its annual salary ordinance [4, 11]
On the 2026 ballot
94 races; 41 contested [12]
What the law puts in this job (13)
  • Acts as the county executive and transacts county business under the name of the board of commissioners [1].
  • Runs the day-to-day administration of county government affairs that the state has not given to a separately elected county officer [2].
  • Serves as the county's legislative body, passing ordinances and resolutions, in every county except Lake, Marion and St. Joseph, where that power belongs to the county council [2].
  • Controls, maintains and supervises county property such as the courthouse, the jail building and county offices [13].
  • Oversees county roads and bridges, highway records, speed limits and stop signs [13].
  • Audits and approves claims for payment, takes bids and authorizes county contracts [13].
  • Prepares the commissioners' part of the county budget and recommends salaries to the county council, which must consider the executive's recommendations before adopting the salary ordinance [13, 11].
  • Handles zoning, planning, building regulation and economic development matters, and in many counties casts the final vote on rezoning requests such as proposed data centers [13, 14].
  • Sets voting precincts and polling places and appoints members of many county boards [13].
  • Establishes and maintains the county health department and can declare a local disaster emergency [2].
  • Draws the three commissioner districts and the county council districts, outside the largest counties where a commission or the council draws them [15, 16].
  • Does not set the county budget, property tax rate or salaries; those decisions belong to the county council, and no money leaves the county treasury without a council appropriation except as otherwise provided by law [3, 4, 11].
  • Does not run the offices of other elected county officials such as the sheriff, auditor or treasurer, which are separately elected [2].

Clark County's numbers for this office

Legal Insights county office research (Oct. 13, 2026): Indiana Gateway budgets 2019-2026 and the indicator sources linked on each line.

Commissioners' department (code 0068), 2026 adopted budget

$16,733,973

25% more than 2019, before inflation

2019: $13,345,2632020: $9,392,7292021: $11,878,6022022: $14,389,9772023: $12,702,1742024: $14,036,0612025: $13,802,0552026: $16,733,973
2019 $13,345,2632026 $16,733,973
The year-by-year figures

Adopted budget, all funds, 2019-2026 (not adjusted for inflation)

  • 2019: $13,345,263
  • 2020: $9,392,729
  • 2021: $11,878,602
  • 2022: $14,389,977
  • 2023: $12,702,174
  • 2024: $14,036,061
  • 2025: $13,802,055
  • 2026: $16,733,973

Budget lines counted: 0068 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Adopted 2026 county budget (Form 1 line items, Form 4B) and earlier years' budgets

  • In most counties this department also holds countywide costs such as group and liability insurance, contracts and some capital projects. It is the department total, not the cost of the board of commissioners.

Also on the record for this office

  • SEA 1 estimated county-unit revenue change in 2028 vs prior law: $-3,819,920 (LSA)
  • MUST taskforce (LIT distribution talks): convened
  • wheel tax: none found
  • fiscal consultant named in records: Baker Tilly

Measured, for this county

A position compares this county with counties of similar size. It is not a grade: for most measures a higher or lower number is neither good nor bad on its own.

General Fund cash, in days of spending · 2025

116 days

End-of-2025 General Fund cash divided by a year's disbursements, times 365.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: high (council and commissioners jointly): spending and appropriation decisions

Position 15 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

Share of the 2025 General Fund budget spent · 2025

102.0%

Actual General Fund spending divided by the certified budget.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: high (council appropriates; commissioners and officers spend)

Position 5 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

County debt per resident · 2025

$250

Debt outstanding at the end of 2025 (annual financial report).

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: high (council authorizes borrowing; commissioners initiate many projects)

Position 5 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

Budget growth, 2023 to 2026 · 2023-2026

+21.8%

Adopted budget, all funds, not adjusted for inflation.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: high (council adopts the budget)

Position 11 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

SEA 1 estimate for 2028 · 2028 (LSA estimate)

-12.1%

Legislative Services Agency estimate of the county government's revenue change under the 2025 property tax law, compared with prior law.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low: set by state law (SEA 1-2025); local rate choices from 2028 change the outcome

Position 14 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

Property tax cap credits · 2026

16.2%

Tax-cap (circuit breaker) credits as a share of the 2026 levy: revenue the county does not collect because of the caps.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low: set mainly by the constitutional caps and the combined rates of all units in the county

Position 7 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

County bridges rated poor · 2025

1.4%

Share of county-owned bridges in poor condition (2025 inventory).

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: partial: commissioners set road and bridge priorities and local match; projects take years and depend on grants

Position 17 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

Highway spending per lane-mile · 2025

$10,771

2025 county highway spending per lane-mile of county road.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: high (commissioners direct the highway department; council appropriates)

Position 2 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source · source

Meeting minutes online · 2026-10

Posted as text

Whether the council's or commissioners' minutes are posted online (the better of the two), checked Oct. 2026.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: high (commissioners and council decide what they post)

About this race

  • Clark County (county seat: Jeffersonville) is across the Ohio River from Louisville. Its three commissioners are elected countywide: all registered voters in the county vote for every commissioner seat, but each candidate must live in the district they run for. Terms are four years [24].
  • Open seat: Republican Bryan Glover, first elected in 2014, is not running again [23, 25].
  • May 5, 2026 Republican primary (official results): Scott Hawkins 4,723 votes (65.82%), Timothy T. Cochran II 2,453 (34.18%). No Democrat appeared on the primary ballot for this seat [27].
  • November ballot: Independent Sandy Basham and Republican Scott Hawkins [12, 25].
  • Budget pressure: In fall 2025, Council President Brian Lenfert said he supports property-tax relief under the 2025 state law (SEA 1) even if the county budget must be cut, and said department requests such as public defender staff and sheriff's vehicles likely could not be afforded [28].
  • Jail and ICE detention revenue are a live local issue: the county has taken in about $2.95 million from the agreement, protest groups want it ended, and county officials say they are cautious about relying on the money [26].
  • No candidate forums or debates for this race were found in sources reviewed.

Candidates on the ballot

Sandy Basham

Independent

Sandy Basham is on the November ballot as an Independent [12, 25]. No campaign website, questionnaire or news coverage of her background or positions was found.

How Basham got on the ballot

  • On the general-election ballot as an Independent; independent candidates do not run in party primaries [12, 25].

What we could not find about Basham

  • Background, occupation, district residence and positions not found; no campaign website, social-media page or questionnaire located.
  • Date of independent petition filing not confirmed.
  • No campaign-finance reports reviewed.
  • Coverage of this candidate is very thin.
  • No background information was found in sources reviewed [25].
  • No statements about the office's direction or about Commissioner Glover were found [25].

Sources for Basham

Scott Hawkins

Republican

Scott Hawkins, a Republican, is an at-large Jeffersonville City Council member and longtime Jeffersonville High School government teacher [29, 30]. He won the May 2026 Republican primary with about 66% of the vote [27].

Hawkins's background

  • Occupation: Taught government at Jeffersonville High School for more than 28 years as of 2024 [30].
  • Jeffersonville City Council: elected at large in 2015 and 2019 [31]; listed as an at-large council member on the city's website as of October 2026 [29].
  • President of the Jeffersonville Economic Redevelopment Commission since 2020, as of 2024 [30].
  • Prior races: Republican nominee for Indiana House District 71 in 2022, narrowly losing to Rita Fleming, and in 2024, losing to Wendy Dant Chesser (46.7% to 49.4% in Clark County unofficial results) [32].
  • Raised in Jeffersonville and Clarksville [30].

Hawkins's positions

Property taxes & SEA 1

  • As a 2024 state House candidate, said he would pursue initiatives to "cap property taxes for older residents"; no statement on county tax policy as a commissioner candidate was found [30].

Economic development

  • Has led Jeffersonville's redevelopment commission since 2020; in 2021 he said of his city council record, "I think we've done good for Jeffersonville" [30, 31].

How Hawkins got on the ballot

  • Won the May 5, 2026 Republican primary over Timothy T. Cochran II, 4,723 votes (65.82%) to 2,453 (34.18%) [27].

What we could not find about Hawkins

  • No campaign website or 2026 commissioner platform found.
  • Local coverage (News and Tribune) could not be reviewed for this profile; official county results are used instead.
  • Whether he would leave the Jeffersonville City Council if elected not confirmed.
  • No endorsements or campaign-finance reports reviewed.
  • District residence not separately confirmed.
  • No commissioner-specific platform was found; positions above are from his 2021–2024 state House campaigns [30, 31].
  • No statements about Commissioner Glover's record or the office's direction were found in sources reviewed [25].

Sources for Hawkins

Key points

  • Open seat: Republican Bryan Glover, first elected in 2014, is not running again. (Louisville Public Media)
  • Commissioners approved a one-year moratorium in unincorporated areas (2026) that ends when UDO amendments are enacted; Jeffersonville passed its own 8-0 (Aug 4, 2026). (wdrb.com)
  • Clark County government adopted a $77.3 million budget for 2026, about $593 per resident; that is +21.8% compared with 2023. (Indiana Gateway for Government Units)

Sources

Researched Sunday, October 11, 2026

  1. Indiana Code 36-2-2-2: Board of commissioners as county executive (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  2. County Government Overview: Indiana (National Association of Counties (NACo))
  3. Indiana Code 36-2-5-2: Tax rates and appropriations (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  4. Indiana Code 36-2-5-3: Compensation of officers and employees (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  5. Indiana Code 36-2-2-1: Application of chapter (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  6. Marion County Commissioners (Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (Thomas C. Kennedy))
  7. Indiana Code 36-2-2-3: Election and term of executive (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  8. Indiana Code 36-2-2-5: Qualifications and residency of members; district or countywide election (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  9. 2026 Indiana Candidate Guide (Indiana Election Division)
  10. Indiana Code 3-8-1-21: Candidates for county commissioner (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  11. Indiana Code 36-2-5-11: Annual budget, tax rate and salary ordinances (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  12. 2026 General Election Candidate List (Indiana Election Division)
  13. Commissioners Responsibilities (Boone County, Indiana)
  14. Indiana state officials want to attract data centers. Local communities are beginning to push back (Indianapolis Business Journal via Inside INdiana Business (Marek Mazurek))
  15. Indiana Code 36-2-2-4: Commissioner districts (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  16. Indiana Code 36-2-3-4: Council districts and at-large members (FindLaw (Indiana Code, current as of 2026-01-01))
  17. 2026 primary elections: Here's who's running in Clark, Floyd Counties (Louisville Public Media)
  18. Clark County Indiana Commissioners (Clark County, Indiana)
  19. Here's who's running for local seats in Clark and Floyd counties (Louisville Public Media)
  20. Clark County has brought in nearly $3M from contract to house ICE detainees (Louisville Public Media (via Indiana Public Media))
  21. 2026 Primary Election, Official Summary Results (run 2026-05-14) (Clark County Clerk of Courts)
  22. How a new tax law loomed over Southern Indiana's 2026 budgets (Louisville Public Media)
  23. Your Jeffersonville City Council Representatives (City of Jeffersonville)
  24. LPM Southern Indiana Voter Guide: State Representative, District 71 (Louisville Public Media)
  25. Jeffersonville City Council member runs for Ind. House (Louisville Public Media)
  26. Dant Chesser wins to keep the Indiana House District 71 seat (Louisville Public Media)
What's included
the U.S. House, statewide offices, every Indiana House and Senate district on the ballot, Indiana's statewide public questions and judicial retention questions, and county, township, city, town and school board races from the Indiana Election Division's candidate list.
Everything else
Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: IndianaVoters.in.gov.
Candidate lists
As of Sunday, October 18, 2026.
At the polls
Indiana law lets you bring a list of candidates and public questions into the polling place, including one stored on your phone, as long as you don't electioneer. IC 3-11-8-18.5

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.