Editing Monroe County, Indiana (section)

==Government and politics==
{{see also|Government of Indiana}}
[[File:Monroe County Sheriffs Department - P1080464.JPG|thumb|right|Sheriff's office and jail]]
The county government is a constitutional body, and is granted specific powers by the [[Constitution of Indiana]], and by the [[Indiana Code]].

'''County Council:''' The fiscal body of the county government; controls spending and revenue collection in the county. There are four elected members representing districts and three members elected at-large. The council members serve staggered four-year terms. They are responsible for setting salaries, the annual budget, and special spending. The council also has authority to impose local taxes, in the form of an income and property tax that is subject to state level approval, excise taxes, and service taxes.<ref name = inc3623>{{cite web|author=Indiana Code|url=http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title36/ar2/ch3.html|title=Title 36, Article 2, Section 3|access-date=September 16, 2008|publisher=IN.gov|author-link=Indiana Code}}</ref><ref name=inc2102>{{cite web|author=Indiana Code|url=http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title3/ar10/ch2.pdf|title=Title 2, Article 10, Section 2|access-date=September 16, 2008|publisher=IN.gov|author-link=Indiana Code}}</ref>

'''Board of Commissioners:''' A three-member board serving as the executive and legislative body of the county. The commissioners are elected county-wide, in staggered four-year terms. The president of this board is the county's principal executive officer. The commissioners are charged with setting policy and managing the day-to-day functions of the county government.<ref name=inc3623/><ref name=inc2102/>

'''Court:''' The county maintains a unified circuit court with nine divisions and a court commissioner who handles civil cases. Judges must be members of the Indiana Bar Association; they are elected to six-year terms. Some court decisions can be appealed to the state level (appeals court, state supreme court).

'''County Officials:''' The county has several other elected offices, including [[sheriff]], [[coroner]], [[auditor]], treasurer, [[Recorder of deeds|recorder]], [[Surveying|surveyor]], assessor, and circuit [[court clerk]]. They are elected county-wide to four-year terms. Members elected to county government positions are required to declare party affiliations and to be residents of the county.<ref name=inc2102/>

Monroe County is part of [[Indiana's 9th congressional district]] and is represented in [[United States Congress|Congress]] [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Trey Hollingsworth]].<ref>[http://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/printable/images/pdf/congdist/pagecgd113_in.pdf Congressional Districts (NationalAtlas.Gov, accessed 21 May 2015)]</ref> It is part of [[Indiana Senate]] districts 37, 40 and 44;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/3006.htm|title=Indiana Senate Districts|publisher=State of Indiana|access-date=July 14, 2011}}</ref> and [[Indiana House of Representatives]] districts 46, 60 and 61.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/3005.htm|title=Indiana House Districts|publisher=State of Indiana|access-date=July 14, 2011}}</ref>

===Courthouse===
The [[Monroe County Courthouse (Bloomington, Indiana)|Monroe County Courthouse]] is the seat of government for Monroe County and is the traditional center of Bloomington. The third courthouse to stand on the Downtown Square, the current courthouse was built in 1907 during a time of great prosperity. [[Wing & Mahurin]] designed the building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bloomingpedia.org/wiki/Monroe_County_Courthouse|title=Monroe County Courthouse – Bloomingpedia|website=www.bloomingpedia.org|access-date=June 30, 2016}}</ref>

===Politics===
Monroe County traditionally leaned Republican. However, like many counties with large universities, it has trended strongly towards Democrats in recent years, voting for the Democratic nominee in 7 out of the last 8 presidential elections. In 2008, [[Barack Obama]] won the county by the largest margin for a Democrat running for president since 1912. President Obama also became the first Democrat since [[Franklin Pierce]] in 1852 to win the county with over 60% of the vote. Since 2008, the county has gone Democratic by large margins, and is now considered one of the few reliably Democratic counties in traditionally Republican Indiana. In recent years, only [[Marion County, Indiana|Marion County]] (Indianapolis) has been more Democratic. The county has not supported a Republican for president since 2000, when it narrowly supported [[George W. Bush]] over [[Al Gore]] by a 4.04% plurality.

{{PresHead|place=Monroe County, Indiana|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Atlas of US Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=May 18, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|21,004|37,213|1,385|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|22,071|39,861|1,219|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|20,592|34,216|3,646|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|22,481|33,436|1,306|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|21,118|41,450|819|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|22,834|26,965|668|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|19,147|17,523|3,550|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|16,744|18,531|4,334|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|16,661|19,712|7,214|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|20,756|15,855|427|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|21,772|14,719|335|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|18,233|13,316|5,345|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|18,938|16,609|148|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|19,953|15,241|402|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|13,752|10,789|2,539|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|10,309|11,918|145|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|14,513|7,535|136|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|13,223|7,732|60|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|12,072|7,745|108|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|9,579|7,375|578|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|8,993|6,809|323|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|10,311|8,117|71|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|8,842|9,220|48|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|7,759|8,478|260|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|8,883|4,317|59|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|6,247|4,689|376|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|5,633|4,751|116|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|3,033|2,796|200|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|1,388|2,396|1,727|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|3,051|2,780|95|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|3,042|2,286|123|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|2,788|2,397|107|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|2,510|2,422|68|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1892|Republican|2,017|1,937|442|Indiana}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Republican|2,054|1,815|119|Indiana}}