This July 4th week, Indiana voters may be more interested in family and fireworks than in politics. But the 2024 election run-up is already in full swing.
Presidential hopefuls are spending the long holiday weekend speaking out on the key issues of gun control, abortion access and the economy.
Some are urging voters to focus on the future – even as others still question the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Will any of their messages resonate in Indiana – a state where voter turnout has ranked in the bottom 10 in the past several elections?
Julia Vaughn, executive director of the nonpartisan political watchdog group Common Cause Indiana, pointed to one indicator of a healthy democracy.
“Voter turnout is one of the ways that we judge whether or not you have a vibrant democracy,” said Vaughn. “You know, are people participating? Do they want to come out and make their voices heard through the electoral process?”
For many Hoosiers, the answer is ‘no.’ According to the Indiana Secretary of State’s figures, only 34% of registered voters in Marion County went to the polls in the November 2022 general election.
Crawford, Spencer, and Union counties had the largest voter turnouts, at 51%. Decatur County had the lowest, at 17%.
A Center for Election Research and Innovation poll from December reveals – despite no evidence that fraudulent voting is a widespread issue – half of the respondents said current voting rules “are not strict enough to prevent illegal votes from being cast.”
But nearly a third said that rules “make it too difficult for eligible citizens to cast a ballot.”
Vaughn said it’s more proof that concern is growing as the next presidential contest draws near.
“People have had a sense of dread and apprehension, certainly about federal elections, and in particular presidential elections since 2016,” said Vaughn. “So, it seems every four years, people are just really holding their breath and, ‘Oh no, what is the outcome going to be?'”
The poll respondents listed a few policies as ways to boost election integrity: better voter ID verification, transparent vote-counting that the public can view, regular purging of deceased and non-resident names from voter rolls, and increasing the number of hours and days for early voting.
3 comments
“despite no evidence that fraudulent voting is a widespread issue”
That is a blatant lie. There is more than enough documented evidence of election fraud. The only nugget of truth is that fraudulent voting was only a small part of the Democrat Fraud Machine in 2020 and 2022.
By the way, Common Cause Indiana is NOT a nonpartisan organization despite their protestations. One only needs to look at the policies they support to recognize that they are a leftist mouthpiece. 5 minutes looking at their website is more than enough.
Maybe Indiana ranks low in the voting tallies because it’s a bit more difficult to fraudulently flood the vote here with illegitimate votes sponsored by criminal election officials. It’s easy to get 110% voter turnout if you don’t need actual voters to be there for the ballots you’ve already filled out.
OF course voters are “disinterested” n politics. It is shoved down our throats 24/7/365 by the media, educrats, politicians, among others. It is obvious that most of these stooges are LYING through their teeth. No one knows who or what to believe. The education establishment does not teach civics that are reflected in oujr actual laws or Constitution. In such a state people just stay home because they believe their vote is worthless, not to mention blatant cheating. So much is talked about that isn’t based in any fact or logic. It is pretty closed to home too. Recent revelations in St. Joe County, IN show that Marxicrats cannot be trusted to follow the rules/laws on elections. If 95% of eligible voters actually showed up at the polls then the establishment would be tossed aside for sure.