Peter Drake
Last year, Indiana was one of only seven states in which Ralph Nader did not appear on the ballot. This was due largely to steep ballot access barriers, requiring petitioners to gather over 30,000 signatures by July 15. In the aftermath of the 2000 election, many states passed election reform bills. Indiana's reforms included funding for new voting machines and improvements to the ease and accuracy of voter registration.The third election "reform" bill was Senate Bill 329. When I became aware of the bill, thanks in part to Richard Winger of www.ballot-access.org, it contained three provisions: (1) keeping the polls open one hour later, (2) publicizing a "voter bill of rights", and (3) moving the signature-gathering deadline forward to June 30.
While I considered the first two items to be small steps in the right direction, the third struck me as anti-democratic. This bill would rob petition-gatherers of two weeks, including the valuable Fourth of July weekend. Why? Did the public demand action against third parties and independents?
I sent email to legislators arguing that this was too high a price to pay. Those who responded felt otherwise -- disappointing, but not surprising. I was surprised to learn that, when the bill was finally passed and signed by Governor O'Bannon, the positive provisions had been removed! I sent out a new round of indignant email. How could our lawmakers stand for this? Did they want to tell Hoosiers, "We don't want you involved in government"?
This time, I got a sympathetic response. Representative Mark Kruzan wrote that he had voted for SB 329, but now regretted that vote. "When I read your email message," he wrote, "I was extremely angry. Not at its content but at realizing I was likely on record having supported a concept I strongly oppose." He offered the following explanation: "The damage was done in a conference committee.... Once the conference committee passed its report, that committee report became one of approximately 120 reports that were voted on in the final day of the legislative session, April 29. With that kind of workload, bills did not receive the kind of responsible scrutiny they should have."
I would later learn that the positive provisions in the bill were not present in the original version either -- they were added and then removed as the bill worked its way through the legislature. It appears that the bill's sponsors, Senator Connie Lawson and Representative Thomas Kromkowski, deliberately misrepresented SB 329. It is of note that Lawson is a Republican from Hendricks County (which has an active Libertarian presence) and Kromkowski is a Democrat from South Bend (which has an active Green presence).
The response I received from Governor O'Bannon included the patently false claim that SB 329 "includes provisions that are designed to encourage more voter participation in Indiana." It was clear that he had not read the bill before signing it!
Around this time, I came into contact with the Indiana Coalition for Fair Election Laws (ICFEL@earthlink.net). This group includes representatives from the Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Our, and Reform parties. They represent a vast spectrum of political philosophies, but have come together to support a common cause: broadening the choices Hoosiers find on their ballots.Kruzan has committed to make amends by putting forth ICFEL's proposal as one of the five bills he is allowed in next year's short session. In addition to repealing SB 329, our proposal would close a loophole under which a third party could win the US Presidency and still not have ballot access in Indiana. It would also reduce the number of signatures required to 0.5% of the number of votes cast in the last Secretary of State election -- undoing damage done in 1980, when an independent run for Mayor of Gary led frightened Democrats and Republicans to crank the number up to 2%.Several other representatives and senators have signed on to support the bill.
I urge you to write your legislators and encourage them to support Kruzan's election reform bill. It is obviously good for Hoosiers, but some legislators may stand in its way, including Thomas Kromkowski, the chair of the House Elections Committee.