This Fourth of July week, Indiana voters may be more interested in family and fireworks than politics. But the 2024 election preparations are already in full swing.
The presidential hopefuls are spending the long holiday weekend talking about the key issues of gun control, abortion access and the economy.
Some are urging voters to focus on the future, though others still question the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
Will any of his messages resonate in Indiana, a state where? Electoral participation was among the last 10 in the last election?
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 we judge whether or not you have a vibrant democracy,” Vaughn said. “You know, are people participating? Do they want to come out and make their voices heard during the election process?”
For many Hoosiers, the answer is “no.” According to figures from the Indiana Secretary of Stateonly 34% of registered voters in Marion County went to the polls in the November 2022 general election.
Crawford, Spencer and Union counties had the highest voter turnout at 51%. Decatur County had the lowest at 17%.
A survey by the Electoral Research and Innovation Center The December poll reveals – despite no evidence that fraudulent voting is a widespread problem – half of respondents said current voting rules “are not strict enough to prevent illegal votes being cast”.
But nearly a third said the rules “make it too difficult for eligible citizens to vote.”
Vaughn said it’s further evidence that concern is growing as the next presidential contest approaches.
“People have had a sense of fear and apprehension, certainly about federal elections, and particularly presidential elections since 2016,” Vaughn said. “So, it seems like every four years, people are really holding their breath and, ‘Oh, no, what’s the outcome going to be?’
Respondents listed some policies as ways to increase election integrity: better voter ID verification, transparent vote counting that the public can see, regular purging of deceased and nonresident names from censuses of voters and the increase in the number of hours and days. for early voting.
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Many state legislatures across the country have closed for the year. As expected, changes in electoral politics were adopted, and those following those movements say Minnesota’s efforts were remarkable.
Ballotpedia has come up with its own Follower of the legislation of the electoral administration of the state – which takes a neutral look at how many of these bills were adopted and what specific trends took hold during the first half of 2023.
Ballotpedia Marquee Team Writer Joe Greaney said that while there was a lot of movement to monitor, there weren’t as many substantial changes compared to the past two years. But he said states like Minnesota were very active.
“Minnesota has obviously done a great job this year,” Greaney said, “and they’re actually a bit of an outlier across the country in terms of taking on and making substantial changes to election administration in the state.”
Some high-profile moves that Democrats passed with their majorities include automatic voter registration. But other changes may not have received as much attention, including additional funding for local administrators to run elections.
A change, which restores the right for those with a felony conviction to vote immediately after their release, is now being challenged in court by a conservative rights group.
And as the appeal of potential third-party candidates gets some attention for the 2024 presidential election, Greaney said Minnesota made a notable shift on that front.
“And one of the big issues there is getting to the polls for both the primary and the general election, both under- and third-party,” Greaney said. “Minnesota already had a tough requirement: 5% of the qualified electorate supported a party for that party to have valid access. They’re changing that requirement from 5% to 8%.”
Other changes include improving options for multilingual voting information and strengthening penalties for activities that focus on voter intimidation or interfering with the election process.
Support for this report was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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The City of Louisville wants to streamline the process for homeowners who want to build Housing Units Accessoriesalso known as carriage houses or backyard sheds, and has received $13,000 Community challenge grant to do so.
For decades, land use regulations required residents to hold a public hearing and go through a months-long process to build accessory housing units. In 2021, the city changed its rules to make the process easier for people who live in single-family residential zoning districts.
Joel Dock, planning supervisor for Louisville Metro’s Office of Planning and Design Services, said the grant will allow the city to hold a design competition and select the winning architectural plans that it could make available to the public online to use them for free.
“And we see that as a huge benefit not only to ADU construction, but also to lower the cost to the homeowner,” Dock explained. “Plans and drawings can vary depending on the detail between $3,000 and $5,000.”
According to researchers at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, legalizing accessory housing units is just that on the rise as states take steps to expand access to affordable housing.
The pier has been added by providing pre-approved building plans that are 85% complete, the city is
removing the initial steps for people trying to figure out what an accessory dwelling unit is and get the necessary permits. He noted that it reduces the cost to homeowners by $5,000.
“We just want to provide an opportunity for someone to not only know they can do an ADU on their property, but then have immediate resources to say this is exactly what I can do,” Dock stressed.
This year, seven Kentucky scholarship recipients received nearly $50,000 statewide in AARP Community Challenge grants.
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The legislation called the Power of attorney law in Massachusetts would allow municipalities to lower the voting age and use ranked-choice voting for local elections.
Town councils could vote to extend voting rights to residents up to age 16 without having to petition the state for self-government.
Geoff Foster, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, said most 18-year-olds are in transit, in school or in the military, making it difficult to build a voting habit.
“We think 16 or 17 is a much better time to get people involved because they’re so connected locally,” Foster explained.
Foster claimed the bill would increase historically low voter turnout for local elections, but opponents countered that teenagers are not mature enough to make informed political decisions. When Takoma Park, Maryland, became the first city in the country to allow 16-year-olds to vote in municipal elections, the teen turnout rate surpassed that of any other age group.
Voting rights advocates said ranked choice voting is a big next step for Commonwealth elections because it allows residents to vote based on a candidate’s platform versus their eligibility. Foster emphasized that ranked-choice voting also expands opportunities for people to run for local office without harming other members of their party.
“In this formula, they could both run and people could still choose their preference between them, but they don’t really cancel each other’s votes.”
Foster added that municipalities that use ranked-choice voting also see a governing body more representative of the voting population, ensuring that minority groups have representation on councils, which he argued is better for democracy.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York provided support for this report.
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