New nonpartisan group targets voter turnout
INDIANAPOLIS (Inside INdiana Business) — With Election Day 2019 behind us, now the electorate attention will turn towards the primary and general election seasons of 2020.
A 501 (c)(3) organization, the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation Inc., has been created to increase the number of informed Hoosier voters.
“The Hoosier democracy is not healthy right now,” states Bill Moreau, co-founder of the ICEF, a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote organization.
The foundation is attempting to improve what it describes as Indiana’s lagging civic rankings. The Indiana Secretary of State’s office says statewide voter participation in 2018 was 32 percent. Tuesday’s election saw a 24 percent participation rate in Marion County.
“Indiana consistently ranks low for voter registration, turnout and civic literacy,” said Bill Moreau, co-founder of ICEF. “We need more Hoosiers to vote and have access to reliable, unbiased information about the candidates and issues.”
Moreau says it’s not only about getting more people to vote, but to ensure they know why they are voting for certain candidates or issues.
A big element of the nonprofit is an online tool that will help Hoosiers confirm, modify or initiate voter registration.
The website, www.indianacitizen.org, will also help voters determine who represents them at all levels of government.
Moreau says the closer to the May primary and the November general election, a voter will be able to see the names on the ballot and be linked to information about the candidates and contact them.
Moreau says he and his wife, Ann, formed the organization. He’s retiring from the law firm Barnes & Thornburg at the end of 2019 and says he will focus fulltime on helping Hoosiers get better educated about the voting process.
“As we sat down to plan our retirement, we thought about the things that were most important to us and thought about our grandsons who are being raised here in Indiana? What kind of state are we going to leave behind us? These are values that and I hold so very, very dear,” said Moreau.
Click here to learn more about the nonprofit and find out who is already supporting the organization.