(Terre Haute) Tribune-Star
Vigo Countians built a reputation for splitting their votes between Republicans, Democrats and occasionally third-party candidates.
Republican presidential candidates Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush carried Vigo County, while voters also backed Democrats for numerous county and state offices. When Bush 41 carried this county in 1988, so did Democrat Evan Bayh for governor.
Voters have grown less willing to select candidates from both parties on their ballots. The trend is a reflection of the nation, where polarization runs deep. It showed up in Vigo County in this fall’s election.
The surge of straight-ticket voting first emerged locally in the 2016 election, when Republican reality TV star and real estate mogul Donald Trump carried Vigo County and won the presidency. A total of 16,844 voters cast all-Republican, all-Democratic or all-Libertarian ballots that year, out of 40,699 total votes cast. That was 41.4% of the local electorate.
Two years later, a nearly identical 41.5% of Vigo Countians voted straight-ticket in the 2018 midterm election.
Those marked the highest levels of straight-ticket voting here since at least 1998. The only election that came close was 2008, when 33.6% of voters chose the all-one-party option.
Partisanship has grown stiffer. In this fall’s election, almost half of Vigo County voters — 46.2% — stuck with one party or the other through straight-ticket voting.
Of course, the party that benefits most from the staunchly partisan voting tends to extol its virtues. This year, Trump’s party reaped the rewards of his popularity in Vigo County. Trump captured 56% of the vote in the county over Democrat Joe Biden, and most Republican candidates for county-wide and statewide offices received similar winning percentages from voters here.
Just as in 2016 and 2018, more Republicans (11,744) voted straight-ticket than did Democrats (8,206).
The local Democratic Party cannot simply attribute the lopsided outcome to the pervasiveness of Trumpism. Vigo Democrats have been fractured since a bitter 2007 mayoral election, and the split continues to leave the party competing against itself and Republicans. The Democrats managed victories in a handful of races this fall, including an Indiana House seat, county coroner and all three Vigo County Council at-large seats, as well as two uncontested judgeships.
But the 2020 results were clearly a Republican rout.
It is heartening to see a competitive, rising Republican Party in the county. A strong two-party system signals a healthy democracy. Republicans have vaulted in front of Democrats locally. The GOP now holds the offices of Terre Haute mayor; county prosecutor, clerk, auditor, recorder, treasurer, and two commissioner seats; the local Indiana Senate seat; and all but one of the local Indiana House seats. Democrats once held most of those offices.
That role reversal is healthy also. It should spark efforts by Democrats to continually bolster their tickets. Such recruitment by both parties benefits the citizenry.
Partisan division is not a benefit, though. The number of states allowing straight-ticket voting has dwindled, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures. Indiana is one of only six states allowing voters to pick all candidates from one party with a single ballot mark. Sixteen states have abolished all straight-ticket voting, or in part. Indiana stopped straight-ticket voting in at-large races in 2016.
The polarization of America certainly plays at least a partial role in the growth of straight-ticket voting in Vigo County. Nationwide, a mere 4% of Americans said they would vote for Trump or Biden and a U.S. Senate candidate from the opposing party, according to a Pew Research Center survey last month. Four years ago, Vigo Countians favored both Trump for president and Democrat Evan Bayh for Senate.
The best-case scenario for the future is for both parties to field candidates that entice voters to pick and choose. A diversity of views, negotiating and compromise leads to better governing.
