Indiana can enhance the integrity of its elections by welcoming more Hoosiers to become voters.
The state is coming off a dreadfully low turnout in its May primary. Just 13 percent of registered voters actually cast ballots six months ago. Vigo County beat that mark, but only slightly with a 16.6-percent turnout. Still, the participation levels, here and statewide, were among the weakest in history.
There are some plausible excuses. Midterm elections — those with no presidential race — routinely draw smaller numbers of people to the polls.
On top of that, this year’s campaign is the first midterm since 2002 in Indiana involving no U.S. Senate race. Still, the voter ranks were significantly thinner last May than in the ‘02 primary.
The situation is not a lost cause. A few changes could boost the size of the Hoosier electorate:
• Implement pre-registration. Nine states — Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island, as well as the District of Columbia — allow 16- or 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, even if they will not turn 18 before the next election day. Some of those states register those young people when they first obtain a driver’s license, others through the local high schools. Those young people automatically get added to their state’s voter registration rolls on their 18th birthday.
The impact of pre-registration, according to The Center for Voting and Democracy, is that young people more often develop a lifelong habit of voting. Participating states see little or no additional costs. Some issue information to the new voters about the mechanics of the process and reminders of the various opportunities, such as early voting.
There is no downside to pre-registration.
• Political parties should shift a greater share of their resources and energy from campaign tactics toward recruiting full slates of qualified candidates at every level.
More people would have voted in May 2014 if the parties offered better choices. Uncontested races dominated the primary ballot, and a similar situation will occur in Tuesday’s general election. Though folks here are not choosing a president or U.S. senator, some typically high-profile local offices are included in this midterm. Yet, the Republican Party failed to field candidates in several Vigo County races, including sheriff, Superior Court Division 5 judge, District 43 state representative, surveyor, assessor and County Council District 3. The Democrats, traditionally the dominant local party, offer no candidate for Vigo County prosecutor, for the first time in recent memory.
• Scrap the 101-year-old voter registration deadline. That rule, requiring people to register 29 days before the election, is nonsensical in the 21st century.
It effectively shuts off people from participating by the time the first attack ads hit the airwaves. It serves no purpose, other than suppressing turnout.
• Extend Election Day poll hours to 8 p.m. Indiana maintains the earliest poll closing time in America at 6 p.m., barely enough time for 8-to-5 workers to reach a polling place. Another early-20th-century rule that needs to change.
Indiana can do better.