IN SB0235

Establishes partisan elections for school board members in most Indiana school corporations beginning after December 31, 2015, allowing candidates to be designated on ballots with party affiliation.

Exempts school corporations located in counties with populations exceeding 250,000 and those governed by specific statutes (IC 20-23-12 through IC 20-23-17.2 and IC 20-25) from partisan election requirements, keeping them on a nonpartisan basis.

Defines "partisan basis" as permitting any candidate for office to be designated on the ballot with a party affiliation, and "nonpartisan basis" as requiring candidates to be elected without party affiliation designation.

Adds school board offices elected on a partisan basis to the list of offices nominated at primary elections and placed on primary and general election ballots with party designations.

Makes conforming changes to ballot language, candidate grouping requirements, and straight-ticket voting rules to accommodate partisan school board elections while preserving nonpartisan election status for specified school corporations and allowing votes for nonpartisan school board candidates to be counted separately from straight-ticket votes.