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MUTUALLY ASSURED DEMOCRACY

Voting for our future: Ballot offers opportunity to reshape Indiana for the people

Written by Laurie Gray and first published on 10/5/2024 in the Ft Wayne Journal-Gazette


Monday is the last day for Hoosiers to register to vote in the November election. Early voting begins Tuesday at the Rousseau Center.


I am a proud early voter. It’s fast and easy downtown or at any of the satellite locations. All I need is my photo ID, and within minutes I’m walking out with my “I Voted Early” sticker.

Vote in person early, by absentee ballot (mail) or at your polling location on Election Day (Nov. 5). Learn about your voting options and see a sample ballot online at AllenCountyINVoters.gov. Go to Vote411.org if you’re not in Allen County.


Find more information about candidates’ positions on ballotpedia.org and candidate websites.

Indiana needs every registered voter to understand what’s at stake this year and vote. I implore women especially to vote for candidates who will protect our civil rights and health care for ourselves, our daughters and our granddaughters.


I had the opportunity to hear candidates Destiny Wells (attorney general), Valerie McCray (U.S. Senate) and Kiley Adolph (3rd District House representative) speak at a recent Indiana state NOW meeting. Their commitment to improve the lives of all Hoosiers is inspiring and refreshing.


The only way to stop the escalating lies and fear mongering is for voters to stop rewarding those candidates who seek to divide us for their own political gain.


Be an independent voter and know that straight-party voting misses this year’s rare opportunity to vote for a new Indiana Supreme Court majority.


While voters in other states can weigh in directly on issues such as gerrymandering and abortion, Hoosiers can only vote on subjects allowed by the state’s supermajority.


The only question posed by our legislators this year is entirely inconsequential: Should the Indiana Constitution be amended to remove the superintendent of public instruction from the gubernatorial line of succession?


Prior to 2021, Indiana voters elected a superintendent of public instruction who is sixth in line to become governor under the Indiana Constitution.


When Hoosiers elected Jennifer McCormick to be that superintendent, partisan legislators disapproved of her efforts to remove politics from education. They quietly eliminated her elected position and replaced it with a secretary of education appointed by the governor.


This year, our legislature asks to remove the superintendent of public instruction from the Constitution because it serves only as a reminder of their partisan politics.


Far more significant than their ballot question is the opportunity to vote again for McCormick, this time for governor, a position that partisan legislators cannot simply erase.


Perhaps most significant on the ballot this year are three of our five Indiana Supreme Court justices. Should Chief Justice Loretta Rush, Justice Mark Massa and Justice Derek Molter be retained?


Voting straight ticket for either party is a failure to vote for or against these justices who were appointed, not elected.


Last year, these three justices delivered the worst decision for Hoosier women since the Indiana Constitution was amended in 1984 to guarantee fundamental rights to “all people” rather than “all men.”


These three justices decided that “equality for women” in Indiana need not include the right to vote, bodily autonomy or any of the basic civil rights women have secured over the past 130 years.


Other liberties Hoosiers currently take for granted (travel, marriage, no-fault divorce) can also be reversed. We need justices committed to moving Indiana forward, not backward.


Hoosiers can vote no to retaining Justices Rush, Massa and Molter and elect McCormick to appoint a new majority on our Indiana Supreme Court (and a new secretary of education).

The two Indiana Court of Appeals judges on the ballot wield far less power. Their opinions rarely establish legal precedent. The Indiana Supreme Court has the final say on what rights are protected and for whom under the Indiana Constitution.


Neither gerrymandering nor the Electoral College can dilute your vote for statewide offices including governor, attorney general and the three Indiana Supreme Court justices. Your vote will count.


Make sure you’re registered and make your voting plan today. Encourage your friends and family to confirm their voter registration and plan to vote. Let’s cast our ballots for candidates committed to our children’s future.


Laurie A. Gray is president of Socratic Parenting LLC.


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