COMMENTARY: Booting Hoosiers from the ballot isn’t good for the civic health of the state

• A young Black woman who is active in the community following in the footsteps of her father.
• A successful businessman who already loaned $2 million to his congressional campaign.
• Another man who hoped to become a judge.
• A well-known Republican who crossed over once to vote on an interesting Democrat race.

And each time, my heart sank.

In a state that regularly ranks at the bottom in voter turnout and civic engagement, the Indiana Election Commission was forced to turn away more than a dozen Hoosiers who wanted to serve their state.

Is this what we really want to do? Disenfranchise citizens? Sow distrust and anger in the electoral system?

Most of the challenges filed against candidates were meant solely to eliminate competition for an incumbent. God forbid Hoosier voters actually have a choice.

A few of the challenges were based on residency or whether a form was notarized. One candidate was removed because he accidentally filed his economic interest statement with the House instead of the Senate.

But most of them were about party affiliation.

Party affiliation

To be able to run as a Democrat or Republican in the state, a person must prove their party affiliation. And this can be done in two ways. First, if your last two primary votes match the party you want to represent — you are in. But if that isn’t the case, you can get the county party chairman to sign off on your candidacy.

The so-called two-primary requirement used to be just one primary and was rarely used. But in January 2022, lawmakers made it stricter — upping it to your two most recent primary votes.

What that means is you can vote Republican your whole life but if you voted Democrat in the last primary election — maybe there was an important race or your ballot had no choices — then you are at the mercy of your county chair. Or, you could vote Democrat your entire life in another state, but if you move for a job you can’t run for office unless you get the chair to sign off. 

And there are no guidelines for the 92 county chairs. Each has their own way of handling these requests. Some always approve them; some never approve them; some pick and choose what office they are comfortable with you running for.

Indiana Election Commission members were following the law, but you could tell it was bothering even them.

At one point they tabled a challenge to a woman’s party affiliation to allow her to go to the Marion County Clerk’s Office and try to find evidence to support her claims. It didn’t work. Chunia Graves had provided proof via a private Democratic vote tracking system that she voted Democrat when she was away playing Division 1 sports at college. But that wasn’t in Indiana and that is what matters under state law.

Commissioner Karen Celestino-Horseman told  Graves she was an impressive young lady.

“And I hope that no matters what happens today that you will go forward because our community needs more young women like you to serve as role models and leaders,” she said. “Unfortunately, we have been saddled by this law that changed recently.”

Moving to two primaries

I went back to 2021 to see how the move to two primaries originated. Then-Sen. Erin Houchin — now a Republican congresswoman — offered the amendment that drew quite a bit of discussion before being accepted on a voice vote. At that point the law was only one primary with the county chair backup.

“We’re just trying to safeguard our parties’ platform and brand so that we are certain that folks who are running under the Republican or the Democrat banner have fulfilled and can fulfill those values represented by the party,” she said then.

She even noted an example in her own family where it could have hurt a relative. That relative is a Democrat but crossed over in 2011 so they could vote for her.

Democrats questioned the change, especially for young people just able to vote or those who have moved from other states with consistent voting history that doesn’t count. And so did a few Republicans.

Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, brought up a time when he had pulled a Republican ballot and then filed to fill an unclaimed commissioner seat. His opponent was the county chair. Under the change to the two-party rule, he wouldn’t have been able to run, he said.

“You can see that it could be disenfranchising for somebody who wants to get re-engaged. I know that both parties, we’re all trying to get young people engaged in this. Do you think this is disenfranchising?”

Disheartening

One attorney at Tuesday’s election commission meeting seemed frustrated with the commission when he tried to defend two fellow Republicans who were removed.

That man — Mitch Harper of Fort Wayne — previously served as a Republican state representative for 12 years. He was elected as a precinct committeeman at age 18, which would be prohibited by current law.

But he was at the meeting on behalf of client Sid Mahant, who was barred from running for Congress.

Mahant was appointed a Republican vice precinct committeeman in Steuben County earlier this year but then moved to Johnson County in February. He was removed from the ballot because he didn’t meet either exception.

“I’m going to end my discussion here because the commission is not entertaining what is clearly obvious to me. You’re saying a person can be a Republican one day and somehow change that status,” Harper said.

He noted the one-primary rule was a modest requirement of party loyalty but said it has gone too far the other way now.

Democrats used the law along with Republicans on Tuesday – often to stifle competition against an incumbent. And we wonder why people are turned off from the system? This is why.

I know it’s legal. The Indiana Supreme Court has said so. But is it right? This primary rule is being wielded as a weapon to discourage participation.