Becoming the most democratic state in the nation

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
— Declaration of Independence
Year after year, Indiana ranks among the lowest in the country in voter participation. And little wonder — a full quarter of our eligible citizens aren’t even registered, meaning that they would be turned away from the polls on election day. There’s no good reason for this. After all, if you’ve paid taxes to the State of Indiana, you’ve earned your vote. It’s time for the people working for you in Indianapolis to make sure that you get it.
Unfortunately for us, when it comes to voting rights conservative law makers have been more focused on creating obstacles than presenting opportunities. The result is an election system that is both un-American in its intent and unnecessarily expensive in its administration. If the States are truly the “laboratories of democracy”, then Indiana is ground zero for many of the voter-suppression practices infesting our national electoral process.
Hoosier voters deserve a better deal. It’s time to set aside our antiquated and expensive paper-first voter registration system. By allowing state agencies to share the databases they already maintain with the Secretary of State for automatic registration, we can deliver on a simple promise — that every citizen that is impacted by our state government should have a say in how that government is run.
We can also guarantee that when you move, your registration moves with you. No more worrying about whether you’re registered at your old address or your new one. When you file a change of address, your registration should be updated right along with your mail delivery. And by allowing the Secretary of State’s secure voter database to automatically reflect changes in the National Change of Address database, we can do exactly that.
Removing the obstacles to voting rights also means expanding opportunities to cast the ballot itself. By offering true vote by mail to all our citizens over the age of 65, we’ve proven that these ballots are a secure option. It’s time to expand this opportunity to include all our citizens, who may be unable to participate on election day due to our State’s shortest-in-the-nation voting hours. And while allowing our counties to adopt voting centers and create satellite early voting locations, we must expand the number of these locations and their availability. At present, Indianapolis has only one such location. That’s a single polling place for over 700,000 residents.
These simple reforms shouldn’t be partisan issues. We should recognize Indiana’s low voter participation rate for the civic crisis that it is. With several easily enacted and inexpensive reforms, Indiana can put its people first and achieve an ambitious goal of being the most democratic state in the nation.
