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Thank you for last week’s excellent summary of the laudable, bipartisan plan to permit every registered Hoosier to cast an absentee ballot in the primaries now scheduled for June 2 [State opens up voting by mail, for now, April 24].
It’s useful to remember that primaries are the method for selecting each party’s nominees for the fall, so for the moment both parties are worried about what low turnout might mean for their intra-party primary races. This begs the question: Will such bipartisan cooperation to improve turnout continue through the Nov. 3 general election, regardless whether there’s a return of COVID-19 along with the seasonal flu?
Indiana consistently ranks in the bottom 10 of states for turnout, according to the 2019 Indiana Civic Health Index. Will both parties and our elected officials take the lessons learned from the June 2 primary election and apply them to improving turnout for the general election?
Perhaps 2020 will be the year in which Indiana’s daunting public health challenges bring a bipartisan focus to our civic health challenges, too.
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Bill Moreau
President, Indiana Citizen Education Foundation Inc.
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