There are two pieces of legislation in the Indiana Senate that could fundamentally alter elections in the Hoosier state. One would allow online voter registration beginning in June 2010; the other urges the Legislative Council to form the Indiana Presidential Primary Study Committee, which would be established through July 1, 2014. Not your average summer study committee.
On the face of it, online voter registration is positive. The Secretary of State's Office, county voter registration offices and the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles would be able to process registrations online.
Safeguards include a secure Web site and the fact that the person registering must have a valid driver's license or state ID card. Digital signatures for driver's licenses and IDs are already on file with the state and can be checked, if necessary.
Online registration also could be used to update addresses or other information for those already registered.
We believe online registration is a positive step, especially as the state moves toward making other important transactions available on the Web, including more at the BMV.
The more voting-related tasks that can be completed on the Web, the better it is for turnout. Next, the state should begin to look at online voting.
"Technology has advanced to the point where, when used in conjunction with photo ID at the polls, we can offer online registration to many without compromising election security and, therefore, drive down costs and increase accessibility," Secretary of State Todd Rokita said.
Senate Bill 534 passed unanimously from the Senate Elections Committee and is now headed to the full Senate.
On another unanimous vote, the committee also encouraged the Legislative Council to study an early presidential primary date. The idea is to ensure that Hoosiers can make a difference in presidential primaries.
Even with a late primary in 2008, Hoosiers had a huge impact in Democratic primary, helping to give Barack Obama the nomination, so do we really need to move the primary?
Our concern lies in two areas -- cost and the impact on the rest of the offices up for election in a presidential year, both of which are among the questions that would be answered by the study committee.
First, assuming the state would move up only the presidential primary, an extra election would cost additional money to pay for election workers, printing ballots and other election materials and other associated costs.
Adding a second primary might hurt turnout in the May primary by discouraging voters from coming out a second time to vote for statewide and local offices. Why would we want to do that?
If we moved up the entire primary from May to January, for example, we would have to open up filing around the time the city election is over with in November of the previous year, shortening the time candidates have to campaign and not giving us a breather from electioneering. While a shorter primary may sound appealing, the general election would last a whole lot longer.
That doesn't sound very appealing.
While studying these issues may not be a terrible idea, even looking into them costs money. Legislators get paid a per diem and mileage for each day they work and have to travel to Indianapolis. Besides legislators, each political party gets one appointee, and two circuit court clerks, two members of the media and another Hoosier with extensive knowledge of campaigns also would be appointed and paid by tax dollars from the secretary of state's office.
We're not sure studying the issue is worth the cost right now, nor the outcome worth the hassle.