ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: New secretary should advance voter access

<p>When Gov. Eric Holcomb announced Rep. Holli Sullivan as his pick for Indiana’s next secretary of state, he went with the status quo rather than reaching, shall we say, for the next level.</p><p>When she appeared before the media on Tuesday at a press conference to introduce her as the replacement for Secretary of State Connie Lawson, Sullivan appeared to follow the line of her predecessor and the Republican line that generally doesn’t make voting any easier or accessible than it is today.</p><p>During the 2020 elections that were shaped by the pandemic — including backing up the primary calendar by a month — Holcomb, Lawson and other Republican leaders allowed no-excuse mail-in voting in the primary. That was lifted in the general election, even though scaled back in-person voting remained the same as the primary, leading to long lines in some polling places, something that’s known to discourage voting. And at that time, the pandemic hadn’t been put to rest.</p><p>Sullivan seems to be of the same philosophy, saying on Tuesday that her top priority would be “free, fair, and secure elections, ensuring that all Hoosiers know that their vote counts.”</p><p>Sullivan didn’t cite any innovative changes she might institute in that vein. Nor did she say how she might work to improve Indiana’s consistently low voter turnout, which was 65% of registered voters last fall.</p><p>“I plan to continue to use the resources of the office to outreach and to ensure that Hoosiers of all backgrounds are encouraged to turn out, but more importantly that they have confidence that each of their votes will count,” Sullivan said.</p><p>There wasn’t any sign of people’s votes not counting in Indiana last fall or any other time in recent history. We need much more forward thinking than that in Indiana, particularly from our top election official.</p><p>Attorney general needs to focus on Indiana</p><p>It’s been three months and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is proving he’ll be much of the same as former Attorney General Curtis Hill — someone more interested in fighting for his own political pursuits than fighting for Hoosiers.</p><p>In December, we urged Rokita to adopt an “Indiana-first” mentality toward the job unlike Hill, who spent most of his time filing paperwork in whatever political case he could find in just about any state outside of Indiana in an effort to try to build a resume.</p><p>Last week, Rokita filed a brief about an emissions case before a federal court… in California.</p><p>He dragged Indiana into a lawsuit about the Keystone XL Pipeline… which does not run in Indiana nor was ever planned to.</p><p>At the least, he filed a defense of the governor in a case filed by a BBQ owner over Indiana’s mask mandate… but then explained on Twitter that he’s only doing it because he has to defend the state in the case, not because he wants to.</p><p>Rokita is showing himself to be as self-serving as Hill, more interested in his next political job than the one he has now.</p><p><em>Send comments to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>.</em></p>