Editing Perry County, Indiana (section)

==Government==
{{see also|Government of Indiana}}
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 county council is the fiscal body of the county government and controls all the spending and revenue collection in the county. Representatives are elected from county districts. The council members serve four-year terms. They are responsible for setting salaries, the annual budget, and special spending. The council also has limited 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}}</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}}</ref>

'''Board of Commissioners:''' The executive and legislative body of the county is made of a board of commissioners. The commissioners are elected county-wide, in staggered terms, and each serves a four-year term. One of the commissioners, typically the most senior, serves as president. The commissioners are charged with managing the day-to-day functions of the county government.<ref name = inc3623/><ref name = inc2102/>

'''Court:''' The county maintains a [[small claims court]] that can handle some civil cases. The judge on the court is elected to a term of six years and must be a member of the Indiana Bar Association. The judge is assisted by a magistrate who is appointed by the judge. In some cases, court decisions can be appealed to the state level [[circuit court]].<ref name = inc2102/>

'''County Officials:''' The county has several other elected offices, including [[sheriff]], [[coroner]], [[auditor]], [[treasurer]], [[Recorder of deeds|recorder]], [[Surveying|surveyor]], and circuit [[court clerk]] Each of these elected officers serves a term of four years and oversees a different part of county government. Members elected to county government positions are required to declare [[political party|party]] affiliations and to be residents of the county.<ref name = inc2102/>

With its predominately "[[Butternut (people)|butternut]]" cultural background, Perry County has historically and ancestrally heavily favored the Democratic Party at the federal, state and local level, and had a reputation for being one of the few Democratic-leaning counties in heavily Republican Indiana. From 1960 to 2012, Republicans only carried the county in three presidential elections, those being in 1972, 1984 and 2004, all of which saw the Republicans carry Indiana by landslide margins, and the county was still one of the closest counties in the state in all three elections.

The county delivered over 60.5% of its vote to Democratic nominee Barack Obama in 2008, clocking in as the state's fourth most Democratic county that year, before giving Obama nearly 55% of the vote in 2012, being the only county in southern Indiana other than the university county of [[Monroe County, Indiana|Monroe]] to back Obama that year. The county has not backed a Democrat since, with the county delivering 56% of its vote to Republican nominee Donald Trump in 2016 and 61% of its vote to Trump the following election. The county's Republican shift was also shown in the coinciding 2020 gubernatorial election, when it backed Republican incumbent Eric Holcomb for re-election with nearly 64% of the vote, marking the first time a Republican had carried the county in a gubernatorial election since 1952.

Perry County is part of [[Indiana's 8th congressional district]] and is represented in [[United States Congress|Congress]] by [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[Larry Bucshon]].

{{PresHead|place=Perry County, Indiana|source=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|first=David|last=Leip|website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|5,549|2,970|164|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|5,345|3,203|189|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|4,556|3,062|474|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|3,403|4,316|156|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|3,202|5,141|147|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|4,137|4,131|47|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|3,461|3,823|103|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|2,554|4,427|949|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|2,973|4,829|1,580|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|4,720|4,804|56|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|4,785|4,760|43|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|4,350|4,540|578|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,088|5,620|38|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|5,204|4,277|29|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|4,211|4,343|554|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|3,090|6,226|25|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|4,372|4,920|16|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|4,946|4,037|10|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|4,816|4,001|15|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|3,761|4,569|24|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|4,087|3,996|19|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|4,489|4,475|14|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|3,619|4,752|248|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|3,253|5,053|51|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|3,772|3,782|7|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|3,240|3,895|179|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|3,864|3,560|41|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|1,762|2,089|55|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|520|1,931|1,199|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|1,903|2,356|73|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|2,105|2,142|59|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|2,078|2,278|47|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|2,139|2,109|35|Indiana}}
{{PresRow|1892|Democratic|1,890|2,074|120|Indiana}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Democratic|1,974|2,007|4|Indiana}}