• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. turnout>

New nonpartisan Indiana group aims to boost paltry voter turnout

Bill Theobald
December 02, 2019
Voting in the Hoosier state

A new group, Indiana Citizen, hopes to move the state from the bottom 10 to the top 10 in turnout. Above, the Butler University mascot at a polling place on campus last year.

Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Add Indiana to the states with nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations trying to improve the functioning of democracy.

Indiana Citizen, which debuted last month, is the brainchild of longtime Democratic activists Bill and Ann Moreau.

Earlier in his career, Bill Moreau worked for Birch Bayh, a prominent senator from Indiana in the 1960s and 1970s. Then he served in various capacities, including chief of staff, when Bayh's son Evan was Indiana's secretary of state and then governor.

He is retiring at the end of the year as a partner in the law firm Barnes & Thornburg to focus full time on promoting the work of Indiana Citizen, which is operated by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Indiana Citizen Education Foundation Inc.

The initial goal of the group is to improve Indiana's low standing among the states when comparing voter turnout. The state ranked 43rd in voter participation in last year's election, the Census Bureau estimates, a tiny uptick after coming in 47th in the previous midterm, in 2014. In the 2016 presidential election the state ranked 41st, a drop of three places from the previous presidential year.

The ambitious goal of Indiana Citizen is to move the state into the top 10 for turnout next November.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter


The first step was the creation of the website, which allows people to check on their voter registration and to sign up if they have not already. Organizers also plan to build, over time, a database of information on the website so voters can learn about the candidates they are being asked to support. At first, the information will come mostly from the candidates themselves.

Moreau said when he started on the project, "we thought certainly someone had already created the voter empowerment tool we envisioned, and learned to our surprise this wheel hasn't been invented."

As the group grows, it hopes to add staff to do original reporting on candidates and to fact check the information they provide.

Moreau said he doesn't see one particular factor that can be blamed for low voter turnout in the state, although it also ranks low in the share of eligible people who are registered. It's also the case that Indiana has been the most reliably Republcian red state in the Rust Belt for a long time. No one is disputing President Trump can count on its 11 electoral votes next fall, GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb appears a safe bet for re-election and the General Assembly is lopsidedly Republcian.

Besides the website, Indiana Citizen has been approaching funders to create the state's first ever nonpartisan statewide voter registration and get-out-the-vote publicity campaign.

"When we connect the two — a massive registration and GOTV effort linked to a content-rich, reliable, unbiased information source for Hoosier voters — we will make an important contribution to Indiana's civic health," Moreau said.

From Your Site Articles
  • Indiana moving far too slowly to thwart election hacking - The Fulcrum ›
  • Turnout lessons from a local election held 57 years ago - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Indiana Voter Turnout Up In 2018 After Historically Poor Rate In Last ... ›
  • How Indiana's voter registration compares to the national average ... ›
  • Fact check: Voter turnout rates in Indiana - Ballotpedia ›
  • SOS: Voter Registration and Turnout Statistics ›
turnout

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow
Contributors

Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Paul Swearengin

DeSantis' sitcom world

Lawrence Goldstone

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Steve Corbin

A dangerous loss of trust

William Natbony

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America

David L. Nevins

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane
latest News

Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Joe Weston
02 June

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Our Staff
01 June

Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

David Butler
01 June

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

James-Christian B. Blockwood
31 May

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

Mia Minkin
31 May

Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Kevin R. Kosar
Elise J. Bean
30 May
Videos

Video: Why music? Why now?

David L. Nevins

Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday YOUnify & CPL

Our Staff

Video: What is the toll of racial violence on Black lives?

Our Staff

Video: What's next for migrants seeking asylum after Title 42

Our Staff

Video: An inside look at the campaign to repeal Pennsylvania’s closed primaries

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Our Staff
01 June

Podcast: AI revolution: Disaster or great leap forward?

Our Staff
25 May

Podcast: Can we fix America's financial crises?

Our Staff
23 May

Podcast: Gen Z's fight for democracy

Our Staff
22 May
Recommended
Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Why does a man wearing earrings drive Christians crazy?

Diversity Inclusion and Belonging
DeSantis' sitcom world

DeSantis' sitcom world

Opinion
Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Ask Joe: Two sides of a story

Pop Culture
Video: Why music? Why now?

Video: Why music? Why now?

Big Picture
Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Podcast: Saving democracy from & with AI

Technology
Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

Default? Financial crisis? Political theater?

Budgeting