WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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A grassroots Indiana group is trying to motivate voters to participate in the upcoming November elections.
The non-profit, non-partisan organization Hoosier Action recently announced ‘Project Midterm,’ which is looking to recruit 500 members of the Bloomington community to help residents sign up to vote.
Hoosier Action is asking participants to donate three hours of volunteer work a week until the elections on November 6. Only 12% of Monroe County residents voted in this year’s primary elections. 19%, or roughly 18,000, registered voters turned out to the polls. According to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, only 20% of registered Indiana voters participated in the May elections. That puts the total a little over 2014’s primary turnout, but less than 2010’s.
According to the United States Elections Project, Indiana ranked 36th in voter turnout during the 2016 elections.
Several of Monroe County’s local elections were won by a margin of a few hundred votes.
Allison Quantz, another one of the Project’s volunteer coordinators, explains that building relationships with members of the community is vital to increasing voter turnout. She says that this cause is very important to her and that it’s a way to create a community that she’s proud to be a part of.
Listeners interested in getting involved in Project Midterm can email: [email protected]
Hoosier Action is holding four events this month for community members interested in participating in Project Midterm. For dates and locations, interested listeners can visit hoosieraction.org/projectmidterm.
