Experts: Every vote matters in municipal elections, so why is nobody voting?
Lake County’s voters can start heading to the polls Wednesday when early voting sites across the county open their doors in advance of the November general municipal election.
As local officials make decisions impacting development, road repairs, police and fire services, and more every day, municipal elections are arguably those that impact voters the most, experts say. Yet despite the significance, they are also the elections that drive the fewest number of voters to the polls.
“It’s counter intuitive because voters are closest to local elected officials,” Dr. Yu Ouyang, associate professor of political science at Purdue University Northwest, said.
Low voter turnout for municipal elections can be attributed to a number of things such as when the local elections are not held during a congressional election year and especially during a presidential election year. Voter turnout tends to drop by about 20% when moving from a presidential election year to a congressional election year. The drop from a congressional election year to a local election is even sharper.
Indeed, voter turnout in 2019 was 15.67% with a total of 47,518 votes cast out of 303,168 eligible voters. In 2015, voter turnout came in at 15.21% with 48,482 total ballots cast out of 318,655 eligible voters, according to figures from the Lake County Board of Elections and Voter Registration.
For comparison, voter turnout in Lake County for the 2020 presidential election was 60.08% and in 2016 it was 56.76%. Turnout for the mid-term 2022 election was 36.92% and in 2018 it was 46.86%
Professor Ellen Szarletta, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Excellence, agreed voters are most connected to their local officials despite a relative lack of engagement at the polls. It is unlikely a voter can show up unannounced at the office of a state or U.S. senator, for example, to discuss a problem.
Local elected officials are the people voters can call on the phone or see at meetings or in their own neighborhoods. People can generally talk to their local officials firsthand to discuss their issues, she said.
Multiple factors contribute to voter engagement. Ouyang said voter fatigue can contribute to low voter turnout along with barriers to access to the election for some.
In Indiana it seems elections happen every year, he said. There is the presidential election cycle, the congressional cycle and the municipal cycle with one year off. Special elections and referendum votes can be conducted in off years.
“There is some sense of voter fatigue with elections that if you miss this one, another one is coming soon,” Ouyang said. “Quite frankly, a lot of voters are apathetic and disengaged from the process. They don’t see the government as working for them…It takes a lot of people out of participation in general,” Ouyang said.
A lack of awareness of local issues can be a contributing factor to the problem of low voter turnout. News coverage focuses on national, state and large market issues, leaving smaller communities without coverage on local issues.
“In order for people to be interested, there has to be something to talk about,” Szarletta said. “There has to be conversation among people, whether in the same political party or if it’s between parties.”
If there is no opposing candidate on the ballot, people tend to say their vote won’t make a difference because there is only one candidate anyway. Any reasonable person would say to themselves that if they don’t have a chance why bother to vote.
Michelle Fajman, the Democratic director of the Lake County Board of Elections, said there has been shifting in voter registration demographics in some communities as people from other states move to Lake County. In Lake Station and some communities deeper into Lake County, you are seeing a Republican presence emerge. Even in Gary, Republican candidates are beginning to crop up.
“Hopefully more and more people will want to get involved in public service and government,” Fajman said.
Having a choice in candidates is important to the process and could increase engagement. Fajman said so far has been encouraged this year by early mail-in ballot requests, which are up from the last municipal election four years ago.
“What people don’t realize is the municipal elections are the most important,” she said.
Since taking over as Lake County’s Republican party chair, Randy Niemeyer has focused on increasing the Republican candidate base and expanding voter choice. He hopes to see some of those efforts pay off in November.
“I think in areas where we currently don’t have a lot of representation of our party, you will see of few of them squeak in. In areas where we are strong, we will get stronger. I’ve really excited about the quality of people who have signed up and the motivation of the ground game,” Niemeyer said.
“I’m very optimistic we will have an awesome municipal cycle this year. Hopefully, it gets us some good people elected,” Niemeyer said.
An influx of residents from Illinois’ western and southern suburbs are bringing with them a little more conservative voting style, he said.
“The party in Illinois has done an extremely poor job running their state,” Niemeyer said.
Jim Wieser, chairman of Lake County’s Democratic Party, did not return a request for comment.
Municipal choices
In St. John, the November election was cancelled after Democrats failed to slate a single candidate for either the clerk-treasurer or two at-large and two district town council seats. In the northern part of the county, Griffith stands as a Republican stronghold, amid a largely Democratic landscape. The November primary there was cancelled after no Democrats signed up to run for the Clerk-Treasurer position or one of the five town council seats on the ballot.
Democrats remain a majority in the northern part of the county where Whiting and New Chicago both cancelled their November municipal elections because no Republican challengers were on the ballot.
There will be a public question on the ballot in November in Whiting seeking approval for an operating referendum for the Whiting Public Schools. Funds will be used to pay for teachers and educational programing and is expected to raise property taxes on the average home by about $120 a year, according to a referendum informational page on the School City of Whiting website.
North Lake County’s three largest cities — Hammond, East Chicago and Gary — remain Democratic strongholds, though some Republican candidates are beginning to emerge.
In Hammond, Democrats face challengers in three of the nine races on the ballot. Two Republicans and one Independent are running for city council seats. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., a Democrat, is unchallenged.
Gary, while still overwhelmingly Democratic, is also seeing some Republican pressure. Democratic mayoral candidate Sen. Eddie Melton is facing an improbable challenge by Republican Andrew Delano. One Republican is vying for one of three at-large city council seats, while another is running against an incumbent for the 6th District spot.
Perennial Republican candidate Arthur Santos Sr.’s challenge of Anthony Copeland for the mayor’s office is the only race on the November ballot in that city. The Democrats running for clerk and the city council seats are unchallenged.
Dyer, Cedar Lake, Schererville, Crown Point, Munster and Lake Station offer a robust selection of Republican, Democratic and Independent candidates in November for multiple races. All but one of Munster’s five council seats are contested along with its Clerk-Treasurer’s race. Two Democrats and two Republicans are seeking Cedar Lake’s two at large council seats while a Democrat, Republican and Independent are running for the council’s fifth ward. In Merrillville and Lowell, about half of the races have no challengers.
Six of the nine seats in Crown Point that appear on the November ballot have both Democratic and Republican candidates. Current Mayor Pete Land, a Democrat, who is seeking his first elected term after winning the post in a caucus, is facing a challenge from Republican Shirlene Olson. Incumbents Clerk-Treasurer Mike Benson and 3rd District Councilwoman Laura Sauerman, both Republicans, are unchallenged. On the other side of the aisle incumbent 4th District Councilman Andrew Kyres, a Democrat, is unchallenged.
All three races in Dyer and all six races in Highland feature both Republican and Democratic candidates for the seats. All Lake Station races also feature multiple candidates including two independents. Hobart has the most diverse candidate base including an independent candidate for mayor. Both a Republican and a Green Party candidate are on the ballot running against two Democrats for the two at-large city council seats. Another Independent also is running for the 2nd District Council seat.
Niemeyer said Republicans have had a lot of success in communities along the U.S. 30 corridor and knows they have to work extra hard in more urban-type communities to gain support for their candidates. He said he is hopeful the competitive nature of the some of the races drives turnout higher than 18%.
“We need to help people understand municipal elections are the most important to your life, bar none,” Niemeyer said. “We need to participate.”
Ouyang agreed voters should be aware the impact of their vote is the greatest at the local level, especially due to the low levels of participation. It is very common for there to be only 700 votes in total for some municipal races.
“If you think of the power of one vote, one vote means a lot if only several hundred people vote,” Ouyang said.
“Voters are actually pretty conscious of that fact. When voters perceive elections might be very close you usually get an uptick in voter turnout,” Ouyang said.
Early voting locations
Registered Lake County voters who live in a community where a municipal election is taking place may use any of the 11 early voting locations.
The Lake County Board of Elections & Voter Registration Office, located in Room A-205 at 2293 N. Main St. in Crown Point, will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday; from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 21 and 28; and from 8:30 a.m. to noon Nov. 6.
Hours at the 10 other early voting locations are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 21 and 28, and 8:30 a.m. to noon Nov. 6.
East Chicago County Court House, 3711 Main St., East Chicago
Gary Public Library Main Branch, 220 W. 5th Ave., Gary
Hammond County Courthouse, 232 Russell St., Hammond
Hobart Police Community Center, 705 E. 4th St., Hobart
Lowell Town Hall, 501 E. Main St., Lowell
Munster Town Hall, 1005 Ridge Road, Munster
Schererville Town Hall, 10 E. Joliet St., Schererville
St. John Township Assessor’s Office, 9157 Wicker Ave., St. John
Wicker Park Breezeway, 8554 Indianapolis Blvd., Highland
Winfield Government Complex, 10645 Randolph St., Winfield
