Impeachment in the United States a single vote in 1912. Several others, most recently Missouri's Eric Greitens, have resigned rather than face impeachment, when events seemed to make it inevitable. The most recent impeachment of a state governor occurred on January 14, 2009, when the Illinois House of Representatives voted 117–1 to impeach Rod Blagojevich on corruption charges; he was subsequently removed from office and barred from holding future office by the Illinois Senate on January 29. He was the eighth U.S. state governor to be removed from office. The procedure for impeachment, or removal, of local officials varies widely. For instance, in New York
2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis since Senators Smith and Espada both claimed to be Senate president, the tie could not be clearly broken. Special elections for lieutenant governor were forbidden by an amendment to the State Constitution after the death of Thomas W. Wallace and subsequent election of Joe R. Hanley in 1943, and according to traditional interpretation of the statute, there is no provision in state law that allows the governor and legislature to appoint a replacement, as there is with other statewide positions. On June 17, Espada asserted that because he was Senate president, he would effectively get to vote twice: once as