Why is the coroner an elected position?

Incumbent Democrat Dotti Owens is running for a second term as Ada County coroner. She is being challenged by Republican candidate Nikole “Niki” O’Neal.

The coroner is unlike most elected officials. “It’s not partisan: a death investigation is a death investigation,” former Ada County coroner Erwin Sonnenberg said. But the elections themselves are partisan. And coroners are not required to have medical degrees.

So why is the coroner, tasked not with policy but with pronouncing people dead, an elected position?

The role of the coroner in America has British roots. Coroners centuries ago identified the dead so the government could collect taxes, National Public Radio reported as part of a yearlong investigation into the American coroner system.

The National Academy of Sciences advised in the 1920s that jurisdictions abandon the coroner system for appointed medical examiners. But fewer than half of states have made the switch.

Mike Johnson, another former Ada County coroner, believes the job should remain elected. “You want the coroner to be an elected position, because that gives him the full autonomy to make decisions without recourse of being fired for something,” he said.

Election Day is on Nov. 6. Catch up on the candidates with the Idaho Statesman’s voter guide.

This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 6:59 PM.