Voters in Greenwood, as seen above, and Franklin have access to a free candidate voter guide through the Indiana Citizen, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosiers.
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Voters in Franklin and Greenwood are just two of 18 municipalities who have access to a nonprofit’s voting guide this fall.
The Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, announced last week that they have secured partnerships with the Indy Chamber and the Herbert Simon Family Foundation to boost distribution of their 2023 candidate voter guides for the Nov. 7 municipal elections. The foundation operates The Indiana Citizen, indianacitizen.org, as a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosiers, according to the foundation.
ICEF was launched in 2020 by Bill Moreau and his wife after he retired from the practice of law. They wanted to continue to contribute to the community in a way that would help improve Indiana’s civic health, which has historically had low involvement, he said.
“Study after study after study has shown that Indiana is just really not participating in the civic life of our state at the levels that other states are, as measured by registration, the level of knowledge of voters and then turnout in November,” Moreau said. “So we launched in 2020 with the purpose of trying to dramatically increase voter registration and turnout.”
The following year, 2021, was an off-year for elections so ICEF turned their focus toward the Indiana Statehouse and covering it. They focused on upcoming decennial redistricting for that period, Moreau said.
“That’s how we’ve been evolving since,” he said. “And here we are in yet another election year, the municipal election, and so we’ve devoted resources to our voter guide — or virtual ballot, as we sometimes call it.”
The new voter guides on The Indiana Citizen’s website provide a virtual ballot that corresponds to a voter’s mailing address. The virtual ballot covers elections in Evansville and 17 Central Indiana cities — including Franklin and Greenwood.
The ballots include candidates biographical information, social media posts, contact information, an incumbent’s key votes, news coverage, campaign finance reports and positions on key issues. In addition to the virtual ballot, the website allows voters to confirm their registration and review stories by Indiana Citizen journalists on key political issues, according to the foundation.
As part of the partnership with the Indy Chamber, the chamber is expected to promote the voter guide to its 6,500 business members through several communications channels. The Herbert Simon Family Foundation has authorized part of a generous racial justice grant to publicize the voter guide to communities of color throughout Central Indiana, according to ICEF.
The chamber’s support speaks volumes, Moreau said. Additionally, the Indianapolis Star recently said the Indiana Citizen was a valuable information source for voters, Moreau said.
“They’re not going to send just anything out to their members,” he said. “We’re really pleased. … All the feedback that we have gotten has been extremely positive.”
One exception to the positive feedback has been when people outside of Central Indiana put their address in and there’s not a virtual ballot. ICEF did not have the resources this year to do a municipal guide for every city, but they hope to be able to raise enough funds in 2024 that will allow them to cover races from federal and state levels down to the county level, he said.
Moreau encourages voters to be aware of their early voting options and recognize how one vote can make the difference, he said.
“As always, as you go down the ballot, and as certainly as you go into local elections, that excuse that ‘my vote doesn’t matter,’ that just falls apart,” he said. “It’s demonstrably not true. That’s where your vote can really, really make a difference.”
