By Brian Boyce
Three days on the road through 11 Hoosier cities, voter access is Tom McKenna’s “driving issue.”
“What’s distressing me is they’re limiting access to the vote,” the recently-announced Democratic candidate for Indiana secretary of state said Tuesday evening of voter identification laws.
Entertaining questions at the Vigo County Annex, the former executive director of Indiana’s Department of Commerce cited the state’s voter identification law as his primary target as he runs for office.
In addition to other functions, the Indiana secretary of state manages elections and chairs the recount commission. McKenna said that 2010 is a census year and that voting districts will be redrawn based on the new population counts. The party controlling the state and its legislative bodies will have considerable sway in drawing those lines, the Democratic contender noted. This makes it an election in which everyone should be able to vote, he said, calling it a “critical” year.
But even without the significance of 2010, voting is all-important to participatory government.
“Voting is not only our civic responsibility, it is our right,” he said.
Under current law, citizens lacking acceptable Indiana identification are ineligible to vote, he explained, recounting an incident in which an elderly woman who didn’t drive anymore was denied eligibility despite decades of regular participation. Also, out-of-state college students are ineligible unless they surrender their driver’s license from that state in exchange for an Indiana card. College students may meet the residential qualifications to vote where they live and pay sales and income taxes, but without the Indiana identification they’re not allowed, he said.
“There are a lot of people who don’t have photo IDs,” he said. Lack of identification, non-residency and felony convictions are currently the only factors precluding citizens from voting.
In the meantime, it’s tough to tell how much shrinkage the voter pool experiences due to this. “What we’re talking about is the number of people who you never know about,” he said. Population growth what it is, it’s reasonable to assume gross voter turnout might rise with the populace, but that doesn’t mean large numbers aren’t being excluded from the process, he said.
McKenna launched his campaign Tuesday morning traveling from his hometown of Madison to Jeffersonsville, New Albany, Evansville and Terre Haute. Today, he heads to Fort Wayne, South Bend, Michigan City and Crown Point. Thursday, he wraps up in Noblesville and Indianapolis.
McKenna earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame before returning to his hometown of Madison to teach high school and coach basketball, track and cross-country. He returned to Notre Dame to earn a law degree and would spend about six years in private practice in Indianapolis and Michigan City, including a year as a deputy prosecutor in LaPorte County.
McKenna’s political service spans three governors, beginning with Gov. Evan Bayh and continuing under Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan, including a position on the Indiana Parole Board and as an administrative law judge for the Indiana Department of Labor. He served as executive director of the Indiana Department of Commerce for five years under then-Lt. Gov. Kernan in addition to chief of staff and deputy chief of staff for policy when he became governor.
McKenna currently serves on the board of trustees of Martin University and is a former member of the board of trustees of the University of Southern Indiana.
Indiana’s secretary of state also manages the state’s divisions regulating corporations, dealerships and securities trade. McKenna said he intends to practice “aggressive pro-action” in safeguarding citizens under those banners, but still, voter access is his “driving issue.”
“I’m fiercely dedicated to expanding the voting pool,” he said.
While November 2010 might seem a long way off, McKenna said candidates for the positions of Democratic and Republican convention delegates need to file between Jan. 20 and Feb. 19. Those positions are elected in the May primary and go on to the state convention where they will choose candidates for state auditor, secretary of state and treasurer. The candidates selected in the convention square off against each other in the November general election.
McKenna said he’s getting out early to encourage citizens to run for those delegate positions and ultimately support his goal of winning the position.
“For our democracy to work as intended, all citizens must be engaged fully in civic life. I call on all concerned Hoosiers to join me in this quest to have an active and engaged citizenry,” he said.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
