Can all officials have subs?

Changing the Kentucky marriage license to allow applicants to check a block labeled “spouse” is a compromise that makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense is the inclusion in the law of the compromise allowing an elected official, citing objections on religious principle, to delegate responsibility for signing the document to a deputy clerk.

Think about the precedent and the possibilities for its application to other elected offices. We select our government officials at state, local and national elections by voting. In essence our vote is cast to say, “I want you, the person for whom I am voting, to be answerable for the duties of the office you are running for.” County clerks’ signatures represent their answerability to the validity of the document.

Is it conceivable that Mitch McConnell and other U.S. senators up for re-election, using their political principle objections, can avoid the negative political fallout, (answerability), associated with an up or down vote on a Supreme Court nominee by simply delegating their vote to someone they have appointed as a deputy senator?

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "Can all officials have subs?."