Issue Position: Election Reform

Issue Position

Re-districting reform is a huge priority for me and we simply are running out of time to address it here in our State. State Senate District 29 is the perfect example of a gerrymandered district. District 29 stretches from Main Streets in Carmel and Zionsville all the way down to Rockville Road on the West side of Indianapolis. This is a clear example of legislators picking their own constituents instead of the other way around. I have been incredibly disheartened to see zero progress made on this issue in the Indiana General Assembly. The cornerstone of a functioning democracy is a system of voting and establishing districts that do not disenfranchise or minimize the power of any voter.

In regards to campaign finance reform, we have also got to find a way to reduce the effect of money on political outcomes. Special interest money is stifling the voice of our constituents. Politicians are listening to the source of the money rather than to the people they represent. I would like to see a cap on the amount a campaign can spend. Campaigns can be costly. Money is spent on television, radio, direct mail, flyers, etc. Thousands of dollars is spent and for what? Think of all the money that is spent on a campaign and how much money we could be spending on kids' education, veterans, the sick, the poor, the homeless, the elderly, etc.

I am also dismayed at the recent efforts to purge voters from the rolls. Missing an election or two should not be used as a reason to disenfranchise a Hoosier citizen. These efforts to make voting more complicated have got to stop and I pledge to do everything I can to make voting easier and more intuitive, including a push for universal vote-by-mail and automatic voter registration when a citizen turns eighteen. I would also like to see the polling hours extended or perhaps having Election Day as a state holiday, thus, making it easier for Hoosiers to vote. We should be doing everything in our power to make it easy to vote instead of putting up barriers.

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