INDIANAPOLIS — We’re the racing capital of the world. A leader in agriculture, affordable living, and proud, midwestern values. Hoosiers have much to be proud of. But when it comes to voting? Well, that’s a different story.
“We’re almost dead last in voter turnout,” said Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell.
Hoosiers rank 50th out of 51, according the latest numbers from the Indiana Civic Health Index, compiled by the Indiana Bar Foundation.
The question is: why?
"I feel like what we’ve seen at the national level over the last few years, I think your everyday citizen is a little discouraged about how we interact with each other, those with opposing views, how it has become so has become so combative,” said Bryan Thatcher, co-director of Voter Registration for Marion County. “And I don't think our citizens have a taste for that. So it actually discourages them to want to participate."
Sadly, though, this isn't new. 13News told the same story ten years ago just days after the 2014 election.
"Only 28% of voters in Indiana voted,” said Kevin Rader in his 2014 report. “That's the lowest total in America.”
IU Political Science Professor Mark Fraley says part of it is a lack of competitive elections.
"If you look at the Senate races, the gubernatorial races, the house races, everything from the White House down to the courthouse, it seems as if we could pretty much make a real easy bet as to who's going to win a lot of these races based on the partisan configuration of the various communities that are involved,” said Fraley, who is Associate Director of IU’s Political and Civic Engagement Program.
The challenge, he says, is convincing people of the belief that it's not just that your vote matters, but that you matter.
"And when you actually go to vote, you are telling people who are in charge that we've got our our eye on you, we are now holding you accountable," Fraley said.
In September, Women4Change, an Indiana not-for-profit organization, launched its “Lift Every Voice and Vote” campaign to reverse Indiana’s poor voting record. The group partnered with the League of Women Voters-Indiana, Common Cause-Indiana, Hoosiers for Democracy, The Circle City Links, Inc., Count US IN Indiana and MADVoters to “increase first-time voter registration and voter turnout, reversing a 12-year period in which voter registration has consistently declined, according to the 2023 Indiana Civic Health Index,” according to its website.
In Marion County just a few days before the voter registration deadline, Sweeney Bell told 13News voter registration was up from the previous election to more than 664,000 people.
But it’s one thing to sign up. It’s another to show up. Sweeney Bell says she knows local citizens can do better.
“When you participate, you become the fabric of the community,” Bell said. “We become stronger.”