IUN's Dr. Ellen Szarleta was the primary author of the 2023 Indiana Civic Health Index report.
Szarleta is the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Excellence and professor of School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU Northwest.
The Indiana Bar Foundation and the Indiana Civics Coalition facilitated the report.
The biannual report shows that Indiana must invest in the education of students about the importance of voting. The report is the result of an analysis of 2022 midterm election data. It puts Indiana with other states that have the lowest voter registration and election turnout rates.
“I am very disappointed the index shows Indiana ranked 50th for turnout and 40th for registration in 2022,” said Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor and former Purdue University president. “We’re better citizens than that. We can and should work to improve these numbers.” Accordingly, I applaud the Index's call to increase the number of Hoosiers eligible to vote in the 2024 elections by increasing registrations,” said Daniels.”
In voting, Indiana ranked 48th in 2010, a midterm year, and 50th in 2022. The national voting rate is 52.2%, while Indiana's rate is 41.9%, which puts it in the bottom 10 of all states since 2010.
