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Speaker 1: WTLC AM, W236 CR Indianapolis. Broadcasting from the Praise Indy Indigo Studios. Discussing the issues that matter to you. It's Community Connection with Tina Cosby on Praise AM 1310.
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Speaker 2: 95.1 FM.
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Speaker 3: And good afternoon and welcome to Community Connection. I'm Tina Cosby. Today is Friday, October 16th. A lot to get to on the show today, Eric. So I guess we need to just get right to it.
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Speaker 4: Lots of stuff.
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Speaker 2: Lots going on.
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Speaker 3: Lots of good stuff.
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Speaker 5: I'm going to step aside and let you.
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Speaker 3: Please feel free to join the conversation.
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Speaker 6: 317-480-1310.
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Speaker 5: 317-480-1310.
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Speaker 3: We're also streaming live on YouTube and Facebook. Yes, we are there right now. Yeah.
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Speaker 2: At this very moment.
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Speaker 3: There we are. On the show today, early voting is underway here and in many parts of the country as we speak, but a large number of voters have yet to cast their ballots. They just haven't gotten there yet. At the bottom of this hour, we're going to have a closer look at elections, the candidates, the offices, and a whole lot more. Just a closer look with a couple of academics who can really, really explain it. But right now, Let's bring in our contributing analyst, James Patterson. James, how are you?
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Speaker 7: I'm doing just fine, Tina. How are you doing today?
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Speaker 3: Seems like it's been forever since we last communicated. What, 24 hours ago?
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Speaker 7: Exactly.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, so, you know, time goes by fast.
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Speaker 3: It does, it does. But, you know, James, we'll get to some other things a little later in the show. And again... If you want to join the conversation, ask questions by all means, 317-480-1310, 317-480-1310. James, a recently released Free Press Indiana and Bellwether Research Poll of more than 800 Hoosiers, Hoosier voters. That's creating a lot of buzz. Everybody's talking about it. You know, it's all over. And so, again, this is the poll a number of outlets are talking about. And for good cause. There's a good reason. for that. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely, indeed. And 800, that's a pretty good sampling size, is it not? It is.
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Speaker 7: It was over 800, yeah. And that is really, and well, we'll get into who they sampled, but that's interesting as well in its own right.
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Speaker 3: Well, here now to help us break it down is Lindsay, and forgive me if I mispronounce this, Erdadi. She's the Free Press Indiana News Editor-in-Chief. Lindsay, welcome. How are you?
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Speaker 8: Hi, I'm good. Thanks for having me. It's Lindsay Airdoty, for the record, just so you know.
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Speaker 9: Airdoty.
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Speaker 3: Okay, now I know. I always said. So, Lindsay, I guess the first question is, why did Free Press Indiana commission the poll in the first place?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, because, you know, Years ago, normally you would see media outlets commissioning polls similar to this, or even Ball State used to do the Hoosier survey years ago that gave us this independent, trustworthy look at how Hoosiers were feeling about certain things at any given moment. And as newsroom budget cuts happened, as polling became more expensive, you really saw that not happen anymore. And so, you know, one of our parts of our mission is to fill gaps. And this is a gap that we thought we could fill and commission a statewide poll that's truly independent.
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Speaker 6: Okay.
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Speaker 3: James, go ahead. I'll let you. Yeah, you can kick things off.
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Speaker 6: Go ahead.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, Lindsay. So tell us about who was polled because it was over 800 people. And, you know, people think when they get the results, and we'll give that in just a little bit, but They'll say, well, that's a program. Democrats listen to that, and they probably just sampled a bunch of Democrats, and that's how they– but who– what was the sampling breakdown, if you know it, between Republicans and Democrats that the people sampled just to start out here?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, so the breakdown is 49% of Republicans or leaning Republican and 40% leaning Democrat or Democrat. And that's self-ID'd in the poll, but still we did some checking in. We know this is also a poll of likely voters, so that's important to note as well. These are not just anybody out there. These are people who are likely to vote based on previous voting history and saying they plan to vote.
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Speaker 3: So let's just go ahead. I just want to follow up on that real quick. Oversampled Republicans. Is that correct? Did I hear that correctly?
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Speaker 7: Yep.
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Speaker 8: Forty nine to 40, which makes sense in a state that does heavily lean Republican.
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Speaker 5: OK, OK.
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Speaker 3: I just want to get there.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 7: That's what I'm trying to get at, Tina, was that there were more Republican samples. So that, you know, that really, I think, moves large in kind of the headline of the story here is. from the Free Press Indiana News, and that is that one in four Indiana voters say government's corruption is top concern. You know, I mean, that's a lot for corruption. I mean, people think of politicians as being, you know, kind of overall, you know, just kind of what people think about politicians. Oh, you know, they're just going to they're just trying to, you know, make themselves look great and all that. And there's corruption in government and that's always the way it was and always the way it is and always the way it will be. So why do you think this is significant or do you think it's significant that a quarter of the voters that you sampled, likely voters, think corruption is a significant issue?
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Speaker 8: That was one of the surprising takeaways from the results because looking at the other options they had in terms of what is the top issue or what is their top concern in the state right now, inflation and cost of living came in second to government corruption, when normally we would have thought that cost of living and inflation would have been the top concern for people. I mean, especially just as you hear people talking anecdotally, it's such a big thing, you know, whether it's gas prices or grocery prices or or any of those things. So that was striking to us, although we did see another national poll come out this week that also had government corruption at the top. And so I wonder if we're just picking up on maybe this new trend that we might start seeing. We don't know exactly what anyone meant by government corruption. That's something we hope to dig into more with more reporting and talking to voters. um, about that particular issue. Um, and I'm, and I'm really curious to find out what, what people say.
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Speaker 10: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: And the description, I guess, or definition of corruption, right?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly.
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Speaker 3: How they, you know, how they saw it. So, so what, what's the headline out of here for you in terms of, you know, as you look at it, what's, what's your headline?
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Speaker 8: I think the government corruption is definitely one of the headlines. I'd say the other one is, um, kind of the results in the Secretary of State's head-to-head poll in particular, because you see the Democrat vote by ahead of Republican Max Engeling, eight percentage points, which is outside the margin of error, which is a pretty big amount to be ahead. And you just don't commonly see that for Democrats in the state of Indiana to be up by that much. And, you know, granted, you know, we take all polls with a grain of salt and things can change. There are undecided voters in that poll. Um, so that needs to be taken into account as well. And thinking about how many, uh, voters in the state often just vote straight ticket party and how many of those would just vote for Republicans doing it that way. Um, but it just, it, it really struck me. And then seeing, um, Greg Ballard, who is running under the Lincoln Party, come in at 5%, which is actually under the Libertarian candidate coming in at 6%. That was surprising as well because he's really been out there campaigning. But I think our poll just kind of confirmed that the suspicion that we may have had that he is probably most likely only known in the central Indiana, Indianapolis area. And that's kind of what it confirmed.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was surprised that he didn't get, and again, I may have been you know, subject to Marion County, you know, blinders, because not even gaining 10%, you know, 10%, less than 10%, that just, for Greg Ballard, that kind of surprised me. And a lot of times, the mayors of Indianapolis, you know, their name and name recognition goes beyond the borders of Marion County, but that one was surprising to me.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, and especially because, and maybe, Mr. Aroga.de can comment on this. And that is that the poll also found that by had significant, that's Bobai name recognition in that secretary of state's race of those survey, just 27% said they never heard of them. Meaning if you were to flip that over, then that would mean what 70, roughly 73% would have, uh, you know, heard of that name by, of course, you know, his father was governor before his grandfather was a senator. And, but conversely, nearly 50% of those surveyed and it's more than 800 likely voters who were surveyed, said they never heard of Mr. Engling, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State. And only 12% said they had a favorable view of him. And did you know, Lindsay, that Mr. Engling's I didn't see it in the article, but he really is campaigning on an issue which I think many people don't seem to be concerned about, and that is voter fraud. He's even running commercials on that. Did that come up in the survey at all, voter fraud?
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Speaker 8: We did not ask about voter fraud in particular. But I think you bring up a good point of this name recognition with both of them. And even looking at, for those who do know both of them, Beau has more of a favorable takeaway. 35% of people said they had a favorable opinion of him compared to 18% said unfavorable. When you look at Max Engling's numbers for that, it's only 12% favorable and 17% unfavorable. So The lack of name recognition, definitely a problem. But then for the small group that does know him, that bigger chunk having an unfavorable position on him is probably not a great takeaway for his campaign right now. But it's worth noting too, yes, Bai has the name recognition from his family, but also he has been on TV with ads for longer than Max Engling has. So I'm curious to see, you know, how maybe this will change, you know, if Max Englund gets a little bit more name recognition, putting more ads out there with his face and his name behind it.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 7: Well, he better get at it. People are already voting in Indiana. So, you know, I mean, he you've got a lot of ground to make up.
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Speaker 3: Probably one of the certainly one of the most compelling races to watch. is that statewide secretary of states. And some of these numbers from your polling were very surprising to me. But, you know, again, I wasn't surprised about the name equity, the by name equity in the state of Indiana. I mean, my goodness, that's three generations, you know, starting with his grandfather, then his father, and now him. So, you know, that kind of covers a lot of bases with the name, you know, name equity there.
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Speaker 7: Tina, are you going to the next issue? Because I'm going to say the next thing that they dealt with is that Trump's approval ratings have faltered in Indiana.
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Speaker 3: That was going to be my next question. Yeah, Indiana voters revealed disapproval of Trump and Braun's performance. Break that down for us, Lindsay.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, this is another somewhat surprising takeaway for me because President Trump won the state. I mean, in all of his elections, it's been almost 20 percentage points that he's won by. It's varied a little bit, but it's been he easily has won the state over and over again. And so to see he has a 44 percent approval rate compared to a 54 percent disapproval rate. And when you break that down even more, seeing that 48 percent is in the strongly disapprove spot for President Trump, that is. I didn't expect to see those numbers be so high. You know, there's definitely frustration that we expected to see from voters. Again, if we think about the cost of living issues, gas prices, all of those things that people are worried about right now, you tend to blame whoever is the president. Do you expect it to feel a little bit, and you've seen it across the country with people kind of turning on him, But in such a Republican state, the numbers being as high as they are, that was surprising. And the same thing, I think, it would be true with Governor Braun's numbers, you know, 48 percent disapproved compared to 38 percent approving of the job he's doing. I think a little bit of that might be a Trump trickle-down effect. You know, if they don't think the president is doing well, then they don't think the governor is doing well.
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Speaker 5: But, you know, again, it's hard to say.
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Speaker 8: We can't ask voters everything we want to know in the polls, right?
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Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 7: Look, Ms. Ergody, I'm looking at your aggregate graph here, and it's got, just like you mentioned, in Indiana, 48% of voters strongly disapprove of Donald Trump, and then 5% somewhat disapprove. Did I have that right?
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 7: Okay, that's 53% who either somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of President Trump. I mean, you know, this is really shocking in this state. And I just, I mean, you just talked about that, but I don't think you gave it justice. I mean, what is it that you think is driving this, this sudden abandonment of the president that they... supported so wholeheartedly just less than two years ago.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of what I've mentioned with the cost of living issues. I think he was elected on this platform that he was going to lower prices. And I think he still talks a lot about that. But then people go to the grocery store and They buy their groceries and they see that that bill is higher. You can't really tell them otherwise. It's coming out of their checkbooks. And same thing with gas prices and the war. He campaigned on this idea of no new wars and America first. And I think people have seen some of these conflicts that we've gotten the country into as, well, that's not what he said he was going to do. And they're not happy about it.
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Speaker 3: But you... My question, approval and disapproval ratings, they don't necessarily always correlate with votes or voting behavior. Correct?
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Speaker 7: Absolutely.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: And so, you know, the ability to predict either a blue wave or a red apple cart upset or whatever they say, whatever they were saying is just not. And I'm going to be curious to see how that translates, how these approval and disapproval ratings translate when it comes to who votes, who gets out to vote, who they vote for, and what have you, because voters can be very dissatisfied and can share with pollsters their dissatisfaction, but yet and still, they may vote, you know, a certain way.
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Speaker 7: Or they may stay at home.
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Speaker 3: Or they may stay at home, yeah.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, because if they somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove, like you said.
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Speaker 3: That's just a feeling, yeah.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, it... it may not mean that they come out and vote, you know, like you said, Tina, they may not be telling it. I mean, they may just be saying that and not, but I mean, that's, if they're going to tell them that they may just say, Oh, the heck with it. I'm not even going to vote. You know, I would, I'm not going to vote for a Democrat, but I'm certainly, and that's really another vote for a Democrat. But I wanted to ask you too, which Tina mentioned at the, at our opening is Mike Braun. I mean, I'm looking at your graphics and he has, 35% strongly disapprove Ms. Lindsay and 14% somewhat disapprove. That's 49% total, either somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove the governor who has through his own, through his little stroke of the pen suspended the gas tax. What for how many straight months now, which makes Indiana's gasoline, um, and diesel fuel, frankly, among the lowest in the nation, if not the. So why is it still, are they blaming him, too, for the grocery prices and the fuel prices and everything else?
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Speaker 8: I mean, it's possible, absolutely. Yeah, you would think that him suspending the gas tax would give him a little bit of a boost there. But I think they might also be looking around their communities and not feeling happy with Their schools, you know, we've heard a lot of pushback with the property tax bill that passed last year and how that's really hurting local government, local school budgets. People might be thinking about that. You know, this is all just kind of like speculation in terms of what went into someone saying they disapprove of the governor. You know, they might... not be happy with job growth in their community. They might think, um, that the state needs to be doing more to, to make investments, um, in different areas. Uh, you know, it's, it's a little hard to say. And I do think I mentioned this too, that some of it is definitely this like trickle down effect of, you know, if someone's mad at the president and the governor is on the same party, like that's just the way they're going to keep, you know, responding to the poll. The other, uh, kind of related stat to point out when talking about the governor's approval rating is whether or not people think the state is on the right track. And when we asked about that 30, 35% said the state is on the right track versus 47% said the state is headed in the wrong direction and 18% said they didn't know or they were unsure.
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Speaker 3: And was there a deeper dive into that question in terms of what heading in the wrong direction might mean or that basically was left open for for them to answer one way or another?
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Speaker 8: That was left open for them to answer one way or another. We did ask about a few specific issues, energy costs, construction of new data centers, eliminating property taxes, things like that. And with the energy costs and data center questions in particular, 90% of people said that they are concerned about rising energy costs.
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Speaker 3: Impacting their households.
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Speaker 8: That's just a huge amount. So if they're upset about how much they're paying for utilities right now, they might be looking at the governor and blaming him. And now, to the governor's credit, he has been trying to do things, trying to pressure the IURC and switch leadership up there to you know, bring down utility costs, but someone might be looking at this and being like, it's still not enough. My electric bill is still way too high.
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Speaker 4: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: And having recently received an electric bill, I know how they feel. I can't imagine. So do I. Yeah. It's just inexplicable what's going on with the cost of utilities and the billing and you know, it seemed to be arbitrary in nature. But so be that, yeah, that was the other big headline from this, James, was that, you know, the majority of those polled feel like Indiana is heading in the wrong direction. And this is statewide. So, I mean, you know, we're not just, go ahead.
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Speaker 7: Well, I was looking to see, and maybe Mr. Gordy can tell us What about data centers? Did that come up at all as something that people were concerned about?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, we asked them if they favor or oppose the construction of new data centers in the state, and 69% said they oppose, while 18% said they were in favor of it. So again, that's a strong number.
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Speaker 7: Of people in opposition.
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Speaker 8: Of new data centers in the state, which that didn't totally shock me. I mean, we've heard story after story of You know, local government meetings, people coming out and protesting against new data center projects and trying to push back against all of them. But it's more, you know, confirmation of, yeah, the majority of Hoosiers do not want new data centers in the state.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so... No, go ahead, James.
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Speaker 7: Go ahead. Well, real quick, I mean.
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Speaker 7: Lindsay, it's like the perfect storm, isn't it? I mean, people are against it. The data centers are trying to push. The cost of living is through the roof. You can't buy a gallon of gas or go to the grocery store without having sticker shock. I mean, it's just everything is just out against them, isn't it? I mean, the people in power.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, which is not super uncommon in a midterm election either. You know, it tends to not go in favor of the party currently in power.
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Speaker 7: Go ahead, Tina.
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Speaker 3: No, no, no. No, I was just I'm just saying so this this was not I don't know. This wasn't a typical Hoosier polling. If you you know, I guess if you say typical Hoosier. But to me, they're just the outliers. Governor Braun, Donald Trump, Hoosiers heading in in the wrong direction. Those are all stronger numbers than anyone probably anticipated, I would think, in a state like Indiana.
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Speaker 7: Yeah, and it says here at the end of the survey results that I'm looking at that Bellwether Research surveyed 896– almost 900 registered voters. And, Lindsay, can you tell us about the– I guess the qualifications of Bellwether to conduct this sort of survey, Bellwether Research? Why did you guys choose them? Free Press Indiana choose them?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, we told them they've polled in Indiana before. They have a strong reputation for conducting solid, trustworthy polls. Christine Matthews, the pollster with Bell River Research that we work directly with, she has experience even polling for former Governor Mitch Daniels. And so we felt that they would do a really good job. And I mean, looking at the results and the demographics of who's included in our poll. We feel like they did a great job with it and that this is a solid poll to look at and see a snapshot in time of how people feel.
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Speaker 7: Yeah.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Well, congratulations on this. Certainly an eye opener.
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Speaker 7: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Very quickly, was there you said it was a likely voter. So I There wasn't a direct question of, will you be voting? But I guess when you ask, are you likely to vote? So there's no way to tell who, how many of this 896, this group of 896 will definitely be voting? Or was there a question like that, like possibly, probably, or definitely?
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Speaker 8: So they reached, they contacted 896 registered voters, 839 of those said they were certain to vote, likely to vote, considering voting or had already voted. So those are the people that are included in our likely voter results.
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Speaker 10: Gotcha. Gotcha.
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Speaker 3: Okay. That's a good number. That's a good number. So they're, yeah, they're going to be engaged. I wonder if this is an indicator at bellwether, so to speak, of how much engagement we're going to have throughout this election season and on election day. Any Any thoughts on that, Lindsay?
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Speaker 8: Well, one of the questions we did ask was, you know, compared to previous elections, are you more enthusiastic about voting or less or the same? And 42 percent said they were more enthusiastic. Only 9 percent said they were less enthusiastic. And then 49 percent said about the same as usual. So, I mean, if you look at that and only 9 percent are saying less enthusiastic, that's that to me indicates that we should probably see some decent turnout.
00:26:17
Speaker 10: Right, right.
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Speaker 3: Well, thank you for this snapshot. This is huge. And like I said, everybody's talking about it, so great job. Great job. Thanks for coming.
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Speaker 7: Thank you.
00:26:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you so much. And we'll just check back afterwards, I guess, and compare notes after the results are in. All right. Thank you so much indeed. And we'll be back talking more elections. 317-480-1310. This time from a different perspective. We'll be right back. Are we back?
00:27:10
Speaker 10: Hello?
00:27:10
Speaker 2: You're back.
00:27:11
Speaker 3: We are indeed. What an amazing snapshot. What an amazing look. When I saw that poll, James and Eric, I don't know about you guys, but it was eyebrow raising.
00:27:23
Speaker 4: I must agree.
00:27:24
Speaker 7: James, how about you? Yeah, I mean, it is incredible. And I'm telling you, people who out there intend to vote, you're thinking about voting, maybe you'll vote. The enthusiasm is there. And if you don't take part this year, then you can just say, why should you ever vote?
00:27:42
Speaker 6: Because now is the time.
00:27:44
Speaker 7: People are motivated and you need to get with the program. Really.
00:27:48
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker 3: And boy.
00:27:52
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:27:52
Speaker 3: And again, polls are a snapshot in time. They certainly are. You know, these were taken the first week. These questions were asked the first week. or second week, and they're no clear indicator of, of somebody, you know, clearly voting, although likely and probable, I think are good words to use based on the information that these, uh, who were polled gave, uh, the, uh, the researchers. So, uh, we're going to keep an eye on, I, I don't know.
00:28:19
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:28:19
Speaker 3: What do you think?
00:28:20
Speaker 7: You know, based on, you know, I listened to a little bit of, you had Julia Vaughn, your, um, your contributor, you know, uh, on, on Monday. And, uh, your election contributor. And she was like, yeah, well, it's up compared to the last midterm, which would be, you know, you know, 2022 compared to the last midterm. It was it's up about double. So the enthusiasm is there and that is borne out. And exactly.
00:28:49
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:28:50
Speaker 3: So folks are going. Well, anyway, joining us now, James and Eric are two political science professors from the University of Indianapolis. And we're also going to talk elections, but more specifics in terms of offices, people, policies, and things of that nature. So our first guest, Dr. Greg Schufelt. I hope I said that right. I'm mispronouncing names today. Is it Schufelt?
00:29:16
Speaker 7: Schufelt.
00:29:17
Speaker 3: Schufelt. Schufelt. Okay. Dr. Schufelt, you're with the University of Indianapolis, and your specialties are American politics, political parties, and state and local governments. Is that correct?
00:29:28
Speaker 5: Correct.
00:29:29
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:29:29
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for being here. And also with us, your colleague from the University of Indianapolis, also a professor of political science, specializing in American politics, public administration, state and local governments, Dr. Laura Merrifield-Wilson.
00:29:43
Speaker 10: Dr.
00:29:43
Speaker 3: Merrifield-Wilson, are you there?
00:29:46
Speaker 5: I am, and I want to thank you for having me today.
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Well, thank you both for being here. This is This is really going to help, and I'm going to tell you why. In addition to just the callers and the call-ins that we get, and James and Eric know that, and I guess also some of the things that come in on our feeds, other feeds, James and Eric can attest, a lot of people just have basic questions like, what is that office?
00:30:10
Speaker 10: Who is it?
00:30:11
Speaker 3: How does that work? And so we're going to take a little closer look at all or a lot of what we're facing and talking about each day as November 3rd Draws closer. And I have to tell you, I got to tell both of you that to kick things off, I want to read an email to you that I received from a listener a couple of weeks ago. And it reads and I'm reading it verbatim. Tina, I know that you will soon ramp up info about voting. We know that a lot of people vote for national candidates and ignore the local candidates. Can you have someone come on and explain the positions? What are people supposed to do in those positions and what qualifications do people need to be effective in that position? If we are to hold them accountable, how do we do that? What do we need to know to hold them accountable? For example, what does a controller do? State treasurer, county assessor, et cetera, et cetera. So how does this position impact us locally? So lot there. A lot of questions, and doctors, I will let you all decide who would like to go first to get us going. But that was the email that prompted this discussion we're having now.
00:31:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I can kick us off, and Dr. Shufelt, I know, will be able to add in here. I think this is a wonderful email, and I'm excited. When people say, I know there are going to be races I'm unfamiliar with. I know there are offices that I don't know the details because that's an honest voter. And I think a lot of times there are races that we think, wow, I didn't even know this was a thing in state government. And especially when you get to local government offices, you may not recognize races. who's running and know what the offices deal. Those are called low information races, low information elections. And that is very natural and normal. So you shouldn't be intimidated. You shouldn't feel bad. You also shouldn't skip them. But as the author of this email to you suggest, right, finding more information is really important. There are a number of voter guides available. League of Women Voters publishes nonpartisan information about races and candidates. WFYI has a voter guide. I believe the Mirror Indian Capital Chronicle. There are a lot of media outlets that have voter guides. And I I always recommend to voters also looking at the sample ballot. You can go to indianavoters.com and put in your address, right? Confirm that you are registered. The registration deadline has passed, but make sure that you're registered and then look at your sample ballot. See who you will be getting to decide on, what races. Look at the two constitutional ballot amendments. Those are very important. Look at any school referendums. but do that well in advance. And then for the races you don't know, use the ballot guides, use Google, right? Look up the individuals, look up the offices themselves. I know we can get into more detail about specific offices. I think if you do a little bit of legwork on the back end, not only are you more informed as a voter, but I think you're going to be more confident too. You're going to know that you're making the best selection of candidates that reflect your values and you're not just guessing or feeling overwhelmed. And this will be a very large ballot for most Hoosiers. There's a number of offices, the constitutional amendments, many judicial referendums, retention elections. There's so much there, right? It'll help make sense of all the decisions you have to make. And that's making you an educated, informed and empowered voter.
00:33:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's fantastic. Great information.
00:33:56
Speaker 10: Dr.
00:33:56
Speaker 3: I mean, excuse me, James, a question. For Dr. Shufeld or Dr. Merrifield-Wilson?
00:34:03
Speaker 7: Yeah, let me just continue with Dr. Wilson and then we'll get Dr. Shufeld in here. But first question is just kind of a housekeeping thing because you're going. I couldn't write as fast. I'm not taking notes in a college class. League of Women Voters and Mirror Indy were the two I caught where you can get voter guides. Where is the other place?
00:34:26
Speaker 5: Yes. Oh, so like vote411. org is the League of Women Voters website. And they provide this nationally. I believe that Mirror Indie has a voter guide. Yeah, and Capital Chronicle I find to be a really helpful resource as well. I always think it's good for people to look like looking at news outlets, right?
00:34:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Indy Star has a voter guide. I think I just put these out today, if I'm not mistaken.
00:35:00
Speaker 5: And utilizing news websites, I think is really helpful. Sometimes people get sucked into interest groups and interest groups will have a bias. I think they're also pretty obvious in the bias. That can be helpful if you support that interest group, right? Or even if you don't, you know where they stand. But I like local news. This is the benefit of the media, that watchdog feel, right? They're able to provide you an overview of everybody who's running. And then you don't personally have to dig information on individual candidates. They'll have it organized by race. by your district or township, I think it makes it the easiest and most efficient way to inform yourself before you vote.
00:35:37
Speaker 7: Okay, thank you, Dr. Wilson. Dr. Shufelt, just a quick follow-up. And that is, I've got my sample bill here on the screen in front of me that I downloaded from the election board website. And it's got on the second page, It says, shall we retain, and then it has several judges of the Marion Superior Court. Shall we retain them? So-and-so, for example, I'm just, you know, giving a name. Shall Judge Patrick J. Dietrich be retained in office? How's just a regular voter to know whether to retain this particular judge if they've had no dealings in the courts? You know, how do you research that, I guess, as a question I want to ask you, sir.
00:36:28
Speaker 11: Yeah, so first, great question. If I could just echo something that Dr. Wilson said, as you're doing all of this research ahead of time, as a voter, you're able to bring that information with you into the polls.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: Oh, that's good to know. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, can we repeat that? No, seriously, because I think that may go over some folks' heads. Yeah, repeat what you just said.
00:36:52
Speaker 11: You can bring your homework with you. You can bring a list of these were the people that I wanted to vote for. And you can have that information ahead of time so that when you go into the polls, you're looking for the names. It's not the first time that you have to remember off the top of your head, who do I want to vote for? You can look up, do I want to vote to retain Judge Patrick Lutrick? And you can have an answer on a note card or on a sample ballot that says yes or no. And you can bring that information into the polling booth with you.
00:37:19
Speaker 3: I never knew that.
00:37:20
Speaker 7: Same here.
00:37:21
Speaker 3: That will make a tremendous difference. Yes, yes. Because I go in with a lot of, you know, we all do. You have all the questions. You know, a lot of stuff in your head.
00:37:28
Speaker 6: Exactly.
00:37:28
Speaker 3: And it's like, I'm trying to remember, what did I read here? What did I say? Never once did I think they.
00:37:33
Speaker 11: All have the same first name of judge.
00:37:34
Speaker 9: So how are you.
00:37:35
Speaker 3: Supposed to remember? Very good point.
00:37:38
Speaker 10: Very.
00:37:39
Speaker 3: But I don't know. Maybe it's the the honesty that I always learned in school. When you go for a test, you can't cheat. You can't take notes in there with you. But unless it's an open book test.
00:37:49
Speaker 7: But yeah, so you can bring.
00:37:51
Speaker 11: That information in. And so to answer the specific question about these retention elections. One, I think it's important to know that these are classic examples of what Dr. Wilson called low-information elections. In general, most judges do get retained. That's just more often the.
00:38:08
Speaker 7: Case than not.
00:38:08
Speaker 3: That's what we heard yesterday, yeah.
00:38:11
Speaker 11: We don't have personal experience with that. And so for me, on a lot of these low-information elections, going to interest groups can be helpful. The American Bar Association... uh, polls, uh, practicing attorneys that practice in front of these judges. And so you can actually see, uh, which judges they're recommending get retained, but also the breakdown of the votes so that you can see that in general, you know, 90% of, uh, lawyers that have practiced in front of this judge think that they were fair and impartial and should.
00:38:45
Speaker 2: Be retained in the job.
00:38:47
Speaker 10: Wow.
00:38:49
Speaker 2: Those are the people that are going to have, uh, you know, the most kind of direct.
00:38:52
Speaker 11: Evidence of it. Um, But, again, in all things, you can always use Google to kind of supplement that. If somebody has been arrested or in the news for the wrong reason, that might come up, and that obviously wouldn't be something that they're campaigning on because they don't have an opponent in these races, right?
00:39:10
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:39:10
Speaker 11: Whether or not they should stay in the job or not.
00:39:12
Speaker 3: They're appointed, right, in Indiana, appointed by the governor?
00:39:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:18
Speaker 7: Isn't that just– wait a minute. Is that they're appointed– Everywhere, I thought it's just Marion County and- Oh, Marion.
00:39:27
Speaker 11: I'm sorry.
00:39:27
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
00:39:28
Speaker 5: Marion.
00:39:28
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
00:39:30
Speaker 7: No, no.
00:39:31
Speaker 3: Greg Taylor.
00:39:32
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:39:32
Speaker 7: Go ahead.
00:39:33
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
00:39:33
Speaker 7: Professor.
00:39:34
Speaker 11: Yeah, there's a little bit of variation across the state in different counties. But in general, this process is called a merit election where they're appointed and then periodically they face voters for retention. But that's different than in other states where we have judges in partisan elections or in nonpartisan elections where there's opponents. And so in these types of elections, they tend to get reelected. But looking at interest groups is helpful, especially if you don't know. So like in the school board races, you can see that some candidates are endorsed by groups that we might think of as more supportive of private solutions for public education and other groups that are endorsed by teachers unions. You can get more and more of that information to make a choice of which candidate, whether it's for a judge or a school board, is consistent with what you want.
00:40:20
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, I don't know if you teach this in your class. I'm sure you do. But we had Senator Greg Taylor on yesterday, and he made the point that I'm sure you're aware that four of the five largest counties, including Hamilton, which does not do this, have their judges appointed by the governor by law. And these are the urban counties, whereas the others, which are– you can deduce from that that they are rural counties. They elect there. So that's why it's also confusing or it might be confusing to a voter because it's do you retain this person, and you have to know. And I think the Marion County Bar Association, the Black Legal Association, is a source too. It's a partisan source. It's one of the two. You said the American Bar Association. I think, I don't know if they're affiliated with them, but I think it's a national bar association they're affiliated with. But the Marion County Bar Association, yeah, the National Bar Association of Marion County, they are a partisan source as well.
00:41:35
Speaker 4: Yep.
00:41:36
Speaker 3: We have one of our colleagues who has a show on Saturdays, a talk show on Saturdays, Dr. Tommy Brown, has a question for our panel.
00:41:45
Speaker 1: Dr.
00:41:45
Speaker 3: Brown, welcome back. How are you today?
00:41:47
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm doing fine, but in just these first 10 minutes of this, I am frustrated because I just went and did early voting yesterday, and oh my goodness, it was a good, I like what was going on, but if Your guests can call in tomorrow and help inform people, because I sure needed what James was talking about. I needed some sheets and some stuff.
00:42:19
Speaker 7: Yeah, Dr. Brown, the professors here, Dr. Shufelt and Dr. Wilson from University of Indianapolis. I'm telling them to call in tomorrow.
00:42:29
Speaker 4: Jesus Christ.
00:42:31
Speaker 10: Okay.
00:42:32
Speaker 3: You know what I'll do, Dr. Brown, is I will have Eric give the number to the show tomorrow between 9 and 10. That's right. And I will have Eric give both of them the number. It's the same number as they just called in.
00:42:47
Speaker 7: Right.
00:42:48
Speaker 4: Right.
00:42:49
Speaker 3: But they can talk to Eric. Do you need to speak with them further, any further? I don't know what their calendars or anything like that is, but we can certainly connect you two. Is that good?
00:43:01
Speaker 4: Well, the thing is, when I heard them present, and, you know, they're from the university, and we need to have more university in the community with that kind of information. But the dynamics was, God, there's a lot of people going out there And when I got in there in the making my votes, I'm looking at stuff. What is this about? What is this? Who is this judge? Who is this? What are these new statements and stuff? And I'm saying, I thought I was kind of intelligent, but when I walked, I figured, I don't know. I don't know that. I don't know.
00:43:42
Speaker 9: Dr.
00:43:43
Speaker 7: Wilson, let me ask you this question. And Dr. Shufelt, you can follow up if you want to, but if, If people haven't done their research and they don't know who to retain, we're talking about the Superior Court, even the amendments questions, question one and question two, has it been your experience that they tend to just not check anything on those boxes at all?
00:44:11
Speaker 5: That certainly does happen. And I think that's probably the most responsible thing to do as a voter if you either truly don't know and you don't want or have the time to look it up in the polling place. Or if you really don't have an opinion, right? If you've looked and you can't decide which one of these fits your vision and your values and what you see as being the preferred option. You can tell that. You can tell when people skip. a race because it's roll-off voting. You can add all the votes together and you can see sometimes some races, some issues. You mentioned the two constitutional amendment questions are really important for Hoosiers to understand. They're on your ballot right now. If they add up to a different number than what typically top of ticket, in our case, that'll be the Secretary of State and then your congressional representative. If they add up to a smaller number, you know people just voted for some of those races and not all of them. I think the most important thing is when you come with that information, and Dr. Schufel is absolutely right, you can bring it with you. When you've looked ahead of time, you know what to expect. And that way you're not surprised. That way you're not caught off guard. I've also heard what I would consider to say a horror story of people that don't know and then they guess. I think that's irresponsible voting. Because you didn't prepare. And then I don't really want anyone guessing on anything in life. You know, it's a red light or a green light. You should know the difference and act accordingly. So I think when you're thinking through the process, certainly the preparation is helpful. The education, informing yourself in advance. And doing that in that way, you won't be suddenly surprised to look at your ballot and be like, wow, two constitutional amendments. I wonder what this is about. You've had the opportunity to inform yourself, think through it, and have a sense of which one you would prefer.
00:46:11
Speaker 4: Can I add something in there?
00:46:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:46:16
Speaker 4: No, I like her presentation. She said either be a red light or green light. I think yesterday I was nothing but a yellow light.
00:46:27
Speaker 7: Those constitutional amendments, read them.
00:46:36
Speaker 4: And then at the end, when you finished everything, they take you through a review on the voting thing. I had to go back and start reading all over again. I was almost asking you, are you sure on this? Are you satisfied with what you said?
00:46:49
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:46:51
Speaker 4: You kind of have.
00:46:52
Speaker 7: To approve it at the end. Yeah, you have to approve everything at the end to make sure that you didn't make a choice that you didn't intend to make.
00:46:59
Speaker 4: Well, James, like I said, I felt like after listening to that dynamic professor, I think I was a yellow light.
00:47:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, but some of it is, you know, with more knowledge, you know, the more you know, the more likely you are to perhaps change behavior that is not beneficial to what it is you're trying to accomplish.
00:47:18
Speaker 2: Right.
00:47:19
Speaker 3: And so with this, you know, additional information and added information, the more people know, the more they're going to know. And so that's, you know, that's the goal of this whole show so far today. The more you know, the more you're going to know. And so I certainly, the next time I vote, I think I'm going to be, I always thought I was prepared. But I think I'm going to be even better prepared because like James and and a whole lot of other folks, I do have notes and I do have an idea. But I, you know, I maybe just stress myself too much trying to make myself remember when I didn't realize I could take my notes with me, you know, to refresh my memory if I don't always recall.
00:47:59
Speaker 2: So.
00:47:59
Speaker 3: You know, I know I'm better. I've learned I'm better as a result of knowing more.
00:48:04
Speaker 10: Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:04
Speaker 7: And I've learned, too, that you can go to websites and get the.
00:48:09
Speaker 3: The voter guides.
00:48:10
Speaker 7: Get the background. Yeah, the voter guide on the judges. Yeah. But Dr. Wilson mentioned earlier about the amendment question, and that's a hot topic. We've been talking about that. We talked about it yesterday. I don't know how Dr. Brown feels about.
00:48:25
Speaker 10: It, but... Good.
00:48:27
Speaker 4: No, you're right, James. You're right, because those two things I was on top of, and I said, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, now we're changing the Constitution. Well, I won't say what I did, but.
00:48:38
Speaker 7: Right. I know what you're saying, but you were knowledgeable about it.
00:48:42
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
00:48:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, but Dr. Wilson and Dr. Shufelt and Dr. Brown, we learned earlier this week, too, that a number of states... automatically, as part of the voting season, they mail to every citizen voter guides. That's right. They're mailed to. Indiana is one that does not.
00:49:05
Speaker 7: Oh.
00:49:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, a number of states do that just as a matter of course. And Julia was telling us about that. Julia Vaughn.
00:49:15
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:49:15
Speaker 5: What?
00:49:16
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:49:18
Speaker 7: Oh, my. What's your take on that, Dr. Shufel? What do you think about that? Yeah.
00:49:23
Speaker 11: So I think in general that Indiana doesn't send voter guides to voters is part of a larger systemic effort that we have kind of a poor civic culture in Indiana.
00:49:35
Speaker 7: Right.
00:49:37
Speaker 11: There are other states that make it a lot easier to vote, that you can register to vote on the day of the election. Polling hours are open longer, that citizens can collect signatures and put questions on the ballot for individual things. And so when Dr. Wilson and I were talking earlier about resources, we were talking about having to go to media outlets and other places to get that information. And in other states, that information is provided, and there's more of an incentive to get that information in the hand of voters. And perhaps not surprisingly, those states have higher voter turnout. Indiana is also one of just a few states that still has the option to straight ticket vote by just checking a single box. And that really hurts things like these retention elections or these constitutional questions or historically school board races. because those aren't covered by partisan. If you just check the Democrat or the Republican ballot. And so that's part of the reason why in these lower level races, your vote actually matters more because less people are participating in them.
00:50:38
Speaker 7: That's a good point.
00:50:42
Speaker 8: Uh-huh.
00:50:43
Speaker 4: That's a, I'm getting education right now.
00:50:50
Speaker 3: I was reading some of our comments on our stream. Speaking of voting, the Marion County Election Board has provided clarity. This is Counseling 5185. Clarity to the social media post regarding marks on the ballot. Please review and share. The clarification is posted on Marion County Election Board's social media page. That is part of a conversation that we had as well, James, the other day about marks on your ballot. You know, when you've completed everything and just about to walk out the door, your ballot does have to be initialed. Prior to that, going into the voting area and the voting booth, there should be no marks there. physical marks on your ballot, just the stickers that you get on as you're going through the process.
00:51:36
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:51:38
Speaker 3: Thank you, Counseling 5185. Thank you for that.
00:51:41
Speaker 7: Sounds like it's blowing up over there. Dr. Wilson, the amendment question. Tina, didn't Senator Taylor say and Representative Pryor that to get an amendment on a ballot, it has to be passed by the legislature in two, I think, consecutive sessions to get it on a ballot? Yes, he did say that. Yeah. Well, my question to you, Dr. Wilson, is how come a lot of people are saying, you know, I never even, we had calls yesterday, I never, why are we just learning about this now? And they were blaming the legislators that they didn't know about this amendment, this really shaky question about changing the Constitution, as Dr. Brown said.
00:52:20
Speaker 5: Oh, yes. Well, you know, these have been known. We have a conservative, not ideologically conservative, but conservative slow process, really thoughtful process to change the Indiana Constitution of 1851. And as you mentioned, the legislators, they're right. It has to go through two successive legislative sessions. An amendment proposal does. It has to be passed through both, obviously, before it can go to voters. Now, I don't blame voters or legislators. There's a lot to pay attention to. That's true in politics and life.
00:52:52
Speaker 3: That's the other thing they said.
00:52:54
Speaker 7: There's a lot.
00:52:56
Speaker 5: These have been introduced. They had gone through twice. I think I was first aware of the bail amendment back in the spring when it had cleared the hurdle the second time in the state legislature, and we said, okay, this will be on the ballot in November for voters. Again, I just keep going back to that prepare and educate yourself as a voter because It's okay if you missed it when it was going through the state legislature. A lot does go through the state legislature. The important thing, I think, to know about the process is that they, meaning the state legislature, our government, cannot unilaterally change the state constitution without our, meaning voters, Hoosiers, consent. And that's why the amendments to the state constitution are very important. We don't see them very often. It's unusual to have two at one time. And at the same point, I'd say just like any other office that you're voting on, any of these races, the constitutional amendments are incredibly valuable, right? It will very much change the way the process of law works in the state. But I don't think it's anyone's fault necessarily for not paying attention or just missing it with everything else going on. You don't have to know about it until you make a decision on it. And now that you're voting, you will make that decision. So this is the important time to inform yourself to understand both the pros and cons. I think especially for the first public question, which is the pre-child bail, probably has a lot more attention to it.
00:54:27
Speaker 3: Right.
00:54:27
Speaker 5: But in both cases, that includes the local judiciary requirements of residency. Inform yourself now before you have to vote. Yeah.
00:54:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, we I have a I got a text message about ballots. Can we talk for a moment about ballots? And I have no problem with that. But we have to squeeze in a real, real quick. Do you all have a few more minutes?
00:54:49
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:54:50
Speaker 3: OK. OK, well, let's take a quick break right here and we'll be right back with more right after this.
00:55:06
Speaker 1: WTLC AM, W236 CR Indianapolis. Broadcasting from the Praise Indy Indigo Studios. Discussing the issues that matter to you. It's Community Connection with Tina Cosby on Praise AM 1310, 95.1 FM.
00:55:23
Speaker 3: And we are back heading into our second hour. Talking elections the entire show today. Our contributing analyst, James Patterson, is with us, as is our producer, Eric Garns. And we have with us political scientists from the University of Indianapolis, Dr. Laura Merrifield-Wilson and Dr. Gregory Shufelt. Again, both from the University of Indianapolis and, of course, our good friend and colleague, the excellent, always excellent Dr. Tommy Brown here. A little bit before he's previewing his show for tomorrow, his Operation Breadbasket Presents Harambee show, community show for tomorrow. And Dr. Brown, you you said you just finished voting early and you like me. I wish I'd have known some of this before I went in. I mean, I think I did okay, but I'm going to be a whole lot better the next time I tell you.
00:56:09
Speaker 4: You're so correct. Their information is so important. I wish I'd have had them six months ago.
00:56:22
Speaker 3: Indeed. So, James, go ahead. Yeah, we're going to— I've got.
00:56:27
Speaker 7: A quick question. You got, if you want to get somebody in, Tina, on the line or something, let me know.
00:56:32
Speaker 3: I'm just answering, I'm answering different, I'm going to different directions, but go ahead.
00:56:37
Speaker 7: Okay, this is for Dr. Shufel, and again, Dr. Wilson can chime in as well. But we're looking at, in looking at that question one, and it talks about, you know, the language, which is, we've said is objective, I mean, subjective and also discretionary when it comes to bail. They want to be able to deny bail in a nutshell here to people if there's some evidence that the prosecutor believes would put the public in danger. And, you know, I'm just kind of paraphrasing. But the reason I am is because what I have on my screen is the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It says excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. I guess I'm saying, does that question one, do you think it would kind of butt its head against the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution? I mean, the Eighth Amendment talks about excessive bail. It doesn't talk about denying bail or granting bail. but do you see any possible constitutional problems? And I'm not asking you to either take one side or the other, but just as an objective viewer of this question one, do you see any constitutional problems with it?
00:58:11
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:58:12
Speaker 11: So I think broadly, regardless of maybe how I would We personally choose to answer the question. The fact that we're asking citizens to interpret this language and then identify whether or not it's a good policy or not is difficult, especially based on the little bit of information that gets to appear on our ballot. And so like voters should go into the polls with concerns, regardless of how they might vote on this. And so I think it's a fair thing for a voter to consider, like, well, I kind of feel like we should have a right to bail. We should have a right to a reasonable amount of bail. And I don't like the subjectivity that's in this question. And maybe that informs why I'm going to vote in a certain way, but I don't have enough kind of clear information here to identify, like, is this excessive? Is this going to prevent people from having due process until they're in charge in front of a court? So I think it's perfectly valid to ask that question. I would defer to constitutional experts on whether or not it is or isn't, but I think it's definitely fair for voters to consider that when they make their mind up.
00:59:17
Speaker 7: Okay, good, fair point. Dr. Wilson, your take on it?
00:59:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, I concur with Dr. Shufall entirely. We're political scientists and we study the political aspects I think it's important that voters have a say in changing their state constitution, but it's also an incredible responsibility, right? You're leaving it up to their interpretation, their understanding, and ultimately their application of both the U.S. Constitution and then also in this case, the change that they would be potentially making to the Indiana State Constitution of 1851. I think a lot of times constitutional amendments When they come to voters, people are kind of surprised by them. I know we talked about that earlier. They don't necessarily anticipate and prepare for them. But arguably, this is even more important, and I would make this statement, right, more important than any one individual running in a race for office. because these constitutional changes are more fundamental than simply laws that are passed. And they can be undone. We've done that at the national level as well, where we've changed the Constitution and we've changed the change we made to the Constitution. But they're incredibly important. So we're giving voters a tremendous amount of responsibility here in making the decision of whether or not to change both bail and that residency requirement as part of the second constitutional referendums.
01:00:42
Speaker 3: I want to talk ballots because I had a question about that. And there are you know, we'll probably get into that a little bit more next week. But you were saying the low information elections. What are some of the more important offices then to pay attention to? I know that we're getting an incredible amount of attention. on the Secretary of State's race, which is the chief elections officer in the state of Indiana. But do people really understand what chief elections officer means? Because that's just, you know, a compressed word that we use and throw around and not necessarily explaining what it is that we're saying, you know, a lot of times in the main. And I think we're guilty of that as well, James. But what are some of the most important offices that impact the most people that people need to know the most about. Not that they're not all important, because if they weren't, they wouldn't be up for vote. But some of the larger ones, yeah.
01:01:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll go ahead and start, and then we'll have Dr. Sheffield, and we'll see how much we concur or disagree. Obviously, they're all important, and every candidate is going to think that their race is the most important. I'm going to make an argument for one type of office in one group. Okay, the type is the state legislature. We have a part-time state legislature, but they create policy. They make laws that impact us in the state. And especially in the Trump administration, we've seen a return to more state control, more state responsibility and authority. So I think our state legislators are oftentimes overlooked. undervalued in a certain way, but they have a lot of power. So I think those state legislative races, I'm talking about your member of the Indiana House of Representatives and your member of the Indiana State Senate, both part of the Indiana General Assembly, are really important. In addition to that, just generally writ large, local government, township trustees, constables, we don't always interact with them on a daily basis for individuals. They provide Uh, assistance, right? Emergency relief, law enforcement, uh, constables serve as small claims, uh, bailiffs. But I think these are really government that's close to the people. They are likely your neighbors or people in your community you may know of that are running for these offices. And they're not career politicians, as the saying goes, right? They're not people that are using this to necessarily climb the political ladder, but they're people trying to provide a public service. They see an opportunity for them to give back, to contribute, to be involved in public service in some ways. So I think just generally speaking, those local offices are really important as well.
01:03:19
Speaker 4: Okay.
01:03:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:03:20
Speaker 11: And then if I could jump in, I would agree with that in the abstract. But then I'd speak to my specific ballot, which I imagine looks like a lot of ballots for voters in Marion County. Most of my races aren't contested. Most of the people that are running for office don't have an opponent. So the person that's going to be the auditor doesn't have an opponent. The people that's going to be the recorder doesn't have an opponent. And so a lot of times the choice has already been made in a primary several months ago. And part of that's because we live in such kind of siloed, homogenous communities where we're surrounded by Democrats or we're surrounded by Republicans. And so for me, the race that I would probably echo the most, in part because it's competitive this cycle, but the secretary of state race, because it has the ability to shape elections, free and fair elections is a prerequisite for every other office. And so in the abstract, I absolutely would agree with state reps. but mine has already been elected because they don't have an opponent. I would agree with state Senate, but my state Senator has already been elected without an opponent. So it's having those kinds of choices that are really important to have in November. And some of us don't have money to make.
01:04:35
Speaker 7: Yeah.
01:04:37
Speaker 3: Treasurer, county treasurer. I mean, I, yeah, just, just, just, I'm just throwing that out there. If you happen to see it on a ballot and in a particular upcoming election, county treasurer, is that one you need to look for? Or do you just assume, you know, they just handle money, treasury money, whatever?
01:05:02
Speaker 5: Hello?
01:05:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sorry.
01:05:05
Speaker 11: I don't quite follow the question.
01:05:07
Speaker 3: No, I'm just I'm just throwing an office out there.
01:05:08
Speaker 7: No, no.
01:05:09
Speaker 3: You thank you very much for your because you were secretary of state. I'm saying if somebody opens a ballot and they see, you know, treasurer or recorder or, you know, vote for this person that if these things are on the ballot, are these important things to take notes on? Or should you just assume that, you know, these these offices are important as well.
01:05:30
Speaker 2: Right.
01:05:32
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think every issue that is on the ballot and every position on the ballot is important because we get to choose it. If it wasn't on the ballot, we might assume that decisions would be made differently and it would be professional civil servants making these decisions. But because the choice is being kicked to voters, if there's a choice to be made, then it is up to us because depending on who wins an election, that could have very concrete consequences. impacts on the quality of life that local Hoosiers feel. So I would say all of these races are important. If you have a choice to make, you should do your research about what the office does and what the two or more candidates are offering.
01:06:15
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:06:15
Speaker 10: James, go ahead.
01:06:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:06:18
Speaker 7: Tina, I'm intrigued by Dr. Wilson's statement that the whole reason for this forum, this panel today, This this discussion was because of that, you know, the text or the email that you received. And, you know, people were just kind of befuddled about what they and we've been informed greatly by these two professors. But I am intrigued by Dr. Wilson's statement that the constitutional amendments questions are more important than any political race on the ballot. That is just can can Dr. Shufelt.
01:06:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, yeah, I guess.
01:06:59
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:07:01
Speaker 11: So I'll definitely support that in that candidates come and go, governor administrations come and go, but constitutions don't get changed that often. And so they tend to have a long lasting impact and can impact a lot of us when we're not paying attention. And so it's often the devils in the details.
01:07:19
Speaker 2: And so sliding.
01:07:20
Speaker 11: Something into the constitution, if people aren't paying attention to it, it ends up lasting for hundreds of years. whereas opposed to a bad policy decision might be able to get undone the following November. So I'd absolutely support that.
01:07:33
Speaker 3: Well, and that kind of echoes what the state lawmakers who were here in studio with us yesterday said, that it's a lot easier to vote one in than it is to change it. And once they get in, once these amendments are made, they're really, really hard to change, very difficult to change. I mean, it can be done, as Dr. Wilson stated, but the lawmakers that do the work— And it's interesting that one of you mentioned, I can't remember which, that we have a part-time legislature. Yeah. So the distinction then, are there legislatures in the country that go full all year round?
01:08:10
Speaker 5: Yes. Yeah, I'll talk about that. Yeah, there are actually. So the National Conference of State Legislatures organizes, they created five categories. for state legislatures. And Indiana is a perfect three. We're right in the middle, very mid, very average in this way, because our state legislature meets three to four months out of the year, depending on whether or not it's a budgeting cycle. We budget every other year, but there are states like New York, Pennsylvania, California, where their state legislators are full-time. They get paid a full-time salary, so to speak. Indiana legislators are making around $ 35, 000 a year. Certainly not nothing, but they oftentimes have another job or they're retired, right? So they're doing something for the months of the year they're not in office for those highly professionalized state legislators, they look a lot like Congress, right? This is their full-time gig. They are there the whole time. And it does impact legislation in terms of a process. For Indiana, legislation is made during the session. And when we're not in session- The governor is still in office and present and active, right? But unless the state legislature is called back, which can only be done by the governor, they're not in special session. They won't come back until org day and then again in January for the beginning of the next legislative session. So there's a range of state legislatures. And when we're talking about how often they're in session, it impacts how much legislation they pass. It impacts the speed at which they pass it. It can impact the quality, quite frankly, of the legislation. And those are, it's a state-by-state issue. So there's certainly categories for it, but there's not a lot of uniformity. It really does depend on the state. Yeah.
01:09:58
Speaker 3: And I just, I don't know. Did you know that, James?
01:10:02
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:10:03
Speaker 7: Indiana is an agrarian state. I mean, it has a An agricultural history. So it grew out of that.
01:10:12
Speaker 9: Yeah.
01:10:13
Speaker 3: And, you know, it's not even the same once a year. I mean, sometimes it's short, sometimes it's long. It depends on whether or not they have to get the budget passed.
01:10:20
Speaker 7: Right.
01:10:20
Speaker 3: Which tends to go a little bit longer.
01:10:23
Speaker 7: And they got it, you know, they insist on ending at a certain time because when they started, it was like, we got to go. and get our crops in the ground, right? And, you know, and then they got to harvest them in the fall, and then they get ready to come back in January. So it was all based upon the agriculture economy, in my view. I don't know, professors may have some other, you know, reasons for it, but that's the way I saw the way it evolved.
01:10:51
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah.
01:10:51
Speaker 4: Can I ask a question, y'all?
01:10:53
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Dr.
01:10:54
Speaker 5: Brown.
01:10:54
Speaker 3: I was just about to head to you. Go ahead.
01:10:57
Speaker 4: This is fabulous. This is phenomenal. But I'd like those two professors... who are political scientists, my question to them and James or any of y'all, what is the ethics within our system of the politics here in Indiana? Is there any ethical system or value system in place that you can articulate?
01:11:21
Speaker 2: Hmm.
01:11:24
Speaker 4: I know that's kind of awkward because that was my major was ethics.
01:11:31
Speaker 2: Uh, Ethics?
01:11:32
Speaker 3: Ethics or value?
01:11:35
Speaker 7: Of who, the legislators or who?
01:11:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, the candidates.
01:11:39
Speaker 7: The lawmakers?
01:11:40
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:11:41
Speaker 4: Of the lawmakers, those who are working, do they have a value system that's even in our Constitution to make them make decisions that really deal with, as we say so often, the democracy or the democratic democracy system?
01:11:59
Speaker 5: Yes.
01:12:00
Speaker 3: Ethics or values other than the oaths of office that they take when they assume office?
01:12:06
Speaker 7: Well, their values reflect their.
01:12:10
Speaker 3: Culture, their party, where they live, who they represent, how they grew up, what they're taught, what they believe.
01:12:24
Speaker 7: And then I think their ethics reflect that, but the professors can weigh in as well if they want.
01:12:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think by and large, there is the oath of office. We have laws to ensure that people behave ethically. And it's not to say that they always do. It's obviously incredibly important. And I'd add it's most important in public office because you have a public responsibility, right? You're representing individuals in the community. You have a fiduciary responsibility because you're utilizing money that does not in fact belong to you, but it is tax dollars given to you by the community to serve a community purpose and value. There's lots of levels there that probably overlap both ethics codes, and in addition to that, some legal boundaries. But there's individual ethics, too, like what people think are good and bad and right and wrong. And I think that's really important when you're evaluating candidates to see if the candidate's ethics align with your own. It's also very difficult to make that kind of evaluation and judgment because you don't always have that information. It may be hard to glean. Sometimes we know what the quote-unquote right answers are, but that's not necessarily how someone would behave if put in a certain position. It's definitely challenging to assess, but of course it's going to be very important as you're looking at candidates. You want someone who behaves ethically and And I hope, you know, if you're running for public office, that's part of your intention. But I'm also not so naive as to believe everyone acts and operates in the same way, right? We recognize there's some differences there.
01:14:08
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:14:11
Speaker 3: Okay.
01:14:11
Speaker 10: Dr.
01:14:11
Speaker 3: Brown, did you get that?
01:14:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, I got it. The judiciary process has things you are supposed to do and you should not do. And in regard, when you take an oath, you're taking an oath to follow certain guidelines. Am I right?
01:14:30
Speaker 5: Well, yeah.
01:14:31
Speaker 9: Yeah.
01:14:32
Speaker 3: That's what you're pledging to do in terms of, yeah, how you're going to do what you're going to do in the job.
01:14:39
Speaker 5: Yes. Yeah.
01:14:40
Speaker 11: And I also think it's probably fair to say that the oath of office is probably a minimum requirement. I think many of us probably have higher expectations for the ethics and values of our legislative officeholders, but.
01:14:53
Speaker 1: again, as Dr.
01:14:54
Speaker 11: Wilson was saying, it's kind of to each their own that they have different motivations and different perspectives of what's the right way to handle their business.
01:15:01
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:15:03
Speaker 10: Wow.
01:15:05
Speaker 3: Anybody else? And Dr. Wilson and Dr. Shufeld, anything that you want to add? I know we're getting close to the, I asked for a little extra time and I don't want to take too much more, but Anything you want to add or add perspective or add to a point that was made in the conversation? I mean, please, please feel free, because we have a few minutes before we have to let you go.
01:15:28
Speaker 5: Yeah. Well, I want to say thank you for this opportunity. And thank you for having these conversations, for spending the airtime to encourage voters to get engaged and to go through some of these questions. Sometimes I think some of these might be questions we didn't even realize we had. And then you hear someone ask it or you hear it addressed. You're like, oh, that explains it. I really hope folks that tune into your show, they've been listening all week, so they've learned a lot about this election cycle and the process, that it gives them both confidence and also the impetus, the motivation, right, to be informed when they're voting. And I think that's an important public service. I think voting is an incredibly important civic duty. It's an obligation that we have. It's a right and a responsibility. But sometimes we just, I think we take it for granted, quite frankly. So thank you for cultivating these kinds of conversations. They're incredibly important in our community.
01:16:24
Speaker 3: Absolutely. No, thank you. Thank you.
01:16:26
Speaker 6: Dr.
01:16:26
Speaker 3: Sheffield.
01:16:28
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:16:28
Speaker 11: And I think the other thing that I would encourage your listeners to kind of keep in mind is that For democracy to work best, this education has to keep going after the election, too. We need to pay attention to what happens at the state capitol. We have to pay attention to what happens after the election, because that's how we hold people in office accountable.
01:16:49
Speaker 3: I was just about to ask, is that where that phrase, because that was one of the questions in the email, is what does it mean when we say hold people accountable? And much like we have been saying register and vote, don't just register, register and vote. Marion County, Indiana, state of Indiana, doesn't necessarily have a voter registration problem. According to the numbers per se, it has a voter participation problem. which, you know, has is, you know, I don't know how that relates to voter registration. But, you know, so vote. I mean, register to vote and vote. So after you once you vote, vote and follow up. And the follow up is the quote unquote holding office holders or those you voted for or elected accountable, meaning ask the questions, demand answers, find out what's what. Is that is that what you're saying?
01:17:43
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's just it's a full time process to be an active citizen, to go to the meetings, to go to the state capitol, to contact your elected official, to see if they're voting the way that they campaigned on. Elections are a great equalizer in how we can hold people accountable. But a lot happens in between every November.
01:18:01
Speaker 3: Truly, truly, it does indeed.
01:18:05
Speaker 1: Dr.
01:18:05
Speaker 3: Brown, any any closing questions you have for our panel before we close this out?
01:18:10
Speaker 4: Hey, they've done an excellent job, and they're classroom teachers. It would really be interesting to see how they transmit information to potential voters that's going to become voters. And they use the word, and I'm going to have to try to define it, and James and Eric and all y'all, what is the role of being a citizen in the United States of America?
01:18:38
Speaker 3: Role, responsibility, yeah, a whole lot of those things, yeah.
01:18:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was excellent.
01:18:44
Speaker 3: No, just don't want to take it for granted. I love that. We should never take it for granted because it's incredible. We don't want to lose it. We got to know as much as we can know.
01:18:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, we got some people getting ready to be taken out of there, and I won't start another conversation. What's going on with, you know, taking some people out of Congress because they may not be legally from the country. That's a whole nother.
01:19:09
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, that's another one. James, any final questions? Yeah.
01:19:14
Speaker 7: I do. I would like to ask, since Dr. Shufelt and Dr. Wilson are both political science college professors at the University of Indianapolis, I would like to ask them both. And either one can go first. I'll just pick one, Dr. Shufelt and then Dr. Wilson. Do you notice any enthusiasm difference compared to other elections this time around in your students? Is there any talk of, you know, being involved as a poll worker or getting to the polls or getting their friends involved or working on campaigns? Is there any difference that you've noticed among your students, the many classes that you teach that you can put your finger on? Dr. Shufelt.
01:20:03
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think in general, our students tend to mirror the general public, that they get probably a little bit more excited for presidential races. But I think given the nature of how polarized our politics are right now, there's definitely what I might say a selection bias. The students that are interested in politics and campaigns and government are really, really interested in those things. The students that aren't interested in them, it's our job to try to spark that passion. And so that's what we're trying to do. But I think most people tend to focus on national elections more than state elections and state elections more than local elections. So, if we can get more people interested and get more people in our classrooms, hopefully we can get more people participating.
01:20:47
Speaker 5: I would echo exactly what Dr. Shufalt said. And I will say, just maybe to add to that, it is really fun to teach college students. they're living every election like it might actually have been their first, right? This is the first time they get to vote. This is the first time they're really paying attention to politics. I always have to remember when we use historical references, which are really important in the context of the work that we do, that they don't necessarily remember the 2016 election. And they may not remember certain elements of 2020 and things like that. But it's exciting to see their enthusiasm and their curiosity and enthusiasm To Dr. Shufelt's point, he's 100% right. We have to cultivate that. You have to work for it. Being an active citizen requires effort, but that's exactly what we're trying to do with students. And you start them early, right? And then they hopefully have a lifetime paying attention, being involved, and being engaged citizens.
01:21:48
Speaker 3: Well, thank you all. And Drs. Shufelt and Wilson, you have dropped a boatload of information. on us and some resources that we certainly are going to share and repeat, uh, over and over, not only through this election season, but just in general. So thank you both. Hopefully I can get you both on here. Uh, I want to thank our good friend Julia Vaughn for recommending you. So thank you, Julia. Uh, and, um, Again, thanks to everybody.
01:22:15
Speaker 7: Dr.
01:22:15
Speaker 3: Brown, we will make sure if Dr. Wilson and Dr. Shufelt can stay online for just a second, Eric's going to give them some information regarding you and your show, and then you all can connect from there. Is that good? Is that good, Dr.
01:22:30
Speaker 10: Brown?
01:22:31
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:22:31
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, okay.
01:22:33
Speaker 3: All righty. And, James, you'll be back with us, Eric. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll all come back to finish out the show. We've got another 30 minutes to go. We'll be right back.
01:22:42
Speaker 5: Yes.
01:23:01
Speaker 1: Let's get back to the conversation. It's Community Connection with Tina Cosby from the Praise Indy Indigo Studios on Praise AM 1310, 95.1 FM.
01:23:13
Speaker 3: And we are back. James Patterson and Eric Garnet it is right now. Anyway. Wow. The segment with the professors, the political science professors was really, really good. And I just love knowing what I didn't know, now knowing what I didn't know before. Because, Jane, no matter how prepared we all think we can be, there's always, always something more we can learn. And something that simple, you can take your notes with you as you go through. And I'm going to tell that to my family that may not be watching here. I don't know about other states, but in Indiana, you can do that. That's great.
01:23:59
Speaker 7: That is great.
01:24:00
Speaker 3: We put too much pressure on ourselves sometimes. But where is that written, James? Where is that written?
01:24:07
Speaker 7: That you can take your stuff.
01:24:13
Speaker 4: In there?
01:24:13
Speaker 3: Where is that? It has to be what I'm saying is it's not on everyday material that we get regarding voting.
01:24:19
Speaker 7: It's certainly not something that's promoted.
01:24:21
Speaker 3: No, no, it's not promoted. I shouldn't say where is it written. If it wasn't written somewhere, then the doctors would not have been able to share that truthfully with us. But what I'm saying is why is that not more common knowledge or something that we can, you know, I'm certainly going to pass it along every chance I get.
01:24:39
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think, Tina, that overall the professors conveyed this, that Indiana can do a, that's a good thing. That's something you don't see everywhere where you can take notes in there and materials, you know, even, like they give you when you walk through the door, different campaigns have people at the door with their material, with their campaign flyers and material and, you know, background stuff and who they would like for you to vote for. You can take that in. So, I mean, that's something that you don't see in every state. So that is a good point. I just wish that, like the professors were saying, particularly Professor Shufelt, that, you know, we– Actually, I was just thinking about this this morning. A little more than a week. I think it's like, you know, we have– we start on the 24th. So that is, let's see, 24th. Is that a Saturday? Yeah, 26th. Uh-huh, 26th, 27th. So it's like four days before– a week before the election. So it's like maybe– Eleven days we have.
01:25:48
Speaker 3: Of early voting. Yeah, satellite early voting.
01:25:51
Speaker 7: Yeah, where you have satellite. Otherwise, everybody has to go in one fully. So what I'm trying to say is I'm not going to go and beat a dead horse, but they could do better and have it more open. Like he said, it could be longer hours. Other states have that. They could do more to promote it, but it comes down to the individual. that you have got to take the responsibility to keep your democracy. And part of that is voting regularly and informed voting. We learned today, didn't we, Tina?
01:26:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, we did. We did.
01:26:25
Speaker 7: Dr.
01:26:26
Speaker 3: Brown, you still here with us?
01:26:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm still here. I'm learning. Yes, this was.
01:26:31
Speaker 3: Okay. You know you can stay as long as you want.
01:26:34
Speaker 4: We got you.
01:26:36
Speaker 3: We got you.
01:26:38
Speaker 4: No, you all are... This one, many of the programs are very good, but this is one that is very, very important here in our state, here in our county. And I have my concerns that why wasn't our own leaders telling us about this?
01:26:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, ditto to you and your show. I mean, the longevity and the sustainability of that message in our community for more than 50 years. Come on now. Come on. Come on, Dr.
01:27:08
Speaker 7: Brown. That is a cure.
01:27:10
Speaker 3: That is.
01:27:11
Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
01:27:13
Speaker 4: The show has changed you all since the 1968, 69, 70.
01:27:18
Speaker 3: But you're still standing.
01:27:19
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
01:27:20
Speaker 3: That's the key.
01:27:21
Speaker 10: Oh, yeah.
01:27:21
Speaker 3: If you can still, yeah, yes, you're still there. And you're still a voice. And that's what people need. And, you know, what concerns me sometimes is that I don't, I'm concerned that people don't realize how diminished more and more and more and more silenced our voices are especially on airwaves like this and like what you you know dr brown what you've been doing for 50 years yeah you know this is a i mean yeah it is no small thing.
01:27:56
Speaker 7: The country yeah you do not have yes an outlet for voices like like this show.
01:28:02
Speaker 3: And companies willing to allow it We're so, so fortunate with Urban One, our parent company, and our division, Radio One, the Indianapolis stations of Radio One. The sustainability that they have managed to have and the commitment that they keep to the community with the airwaves, that's just unheard of. And it's getting to be less and less around the country.
01:28:28
Speaker 10: So true.
01:28:29
Speaker 3: You've got to know the landscape. So, yeah. Anyway, go ahead.
01:28:33
Speaker 10: Yeah, that's it.
01:28:34
Speaker 7: Well, I was going to say, and I don't want to interrupt Dr. Brown, but I was going to say.
01:28:39
Speaker 4: James, you can be you.
01:28:41
Speaker 7: Well, I was just going to say, Dr. Brown, I have a satellite network. I'm not going to say the name because I'm on this kick where if you're not advertising with us, I ain't saying your name.
01:28:52
Speaker 3: Everybody got to make money.
01:28:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:28:56
Speaker 4: It's true.
01:28:56
Speaker 3: The lights have to stay on.
01:28:58
Speaker 7: A satellite company And right now on my programming, WRTV6, Channel 6, an ABC-affiliated station, is not on the lineup because of a dispute with the satellite company, okay? So I don't have access to a— I believe it's a minority-owned—y'all correct me if I'm wrong— television station. You know, to view where there would be other diverse views on there because of the ownership is committed to diversity. And I don't have access. That's what you know, when you said that, Tina, that struck in my mind, you know, less, less places where we can go and get access. diverse views or views we agree with.
01:29:43
Speaker 3: But you know, if it's, if it's local over the air, you still can get it. You just can't get it through that particular.
01:29:48
Speaker 7: I can't get through that. I have to unhook my satellite, which I'm thinking about doing.
01:29:52
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:29:52
Speaker 3: Okay.
01:29:52
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:29:52
Speaker 3: But you can always go to live TV on that.
01:29:55
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:29:55
Speaker 3: You can go to live TV. That's always an option. There's a way around that.
01:29:59
Speaker 7: I got to talk to you, Eric, because I don't know how to do it. Oh, you just, there's a way to go.
01:30:02
Speaker 3: Oh, he's real. So in fact, I had this conference, very conversation with a friend of mine this morning. And she's been going without TV for three days. I said, you don't have to. I said, she's got these antenna in a box. And I said, she said, well, how do I hook up an antenna? I said, look behind your TV. Put in the little coaxial cable-like thing. Yeah, just stick it in there.
01:30:24
Speaker 2: Put it in there.
01:30:24
Speaker 3: And then if you don't know how to, go to YouTube. YouTube is your friend. If you don't believe me.
01:30:28
Speaker 2: YouTube will tell you everything.
01:30:29
Speaker 3: It'll tell you how to do it.
01:30:30
Speaker 7: You've got to have an antenna, though, right?
01:30:32
Speaker 3: Well, yeah. Put the antenna and then the antenna.
01:30:34
Speaker 7: I don't have the antenna.
01:30:35
Speaker 6: Okay.
01:30:36
Speaker 7: I don't have an antenna.
01:30:36
Speaker 2: $ 8, $ 10.
01:30:37
Speaker 3: You can get them anywhere. You can get them anywhere. And they will scan in the local channels and a whole lot of digital tiers that... Probably nobody even knows that you can't get over, you cannot get on a cable or a satellite network.
01:30:49
Speaker 7: Still, still.
01:30:51
Speaker 3: I know, you're paying for it.
01:30:52
Speaker 7: It's the only black-owned station in the city, okay, television station. And they own two stations because they own a low power. And that should not be.
01:31:03
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, James, unfortunately, this has been going on for years and years and years. And what the dispute is over retransmission fees, which is satellite and cable companies using, charging you money to use what you can get free over the air. And most of the disputes come down to between a half a cent and a quarter of a cent.
01:31:23
Speaker 6: That's true.
01:31:24
Speaker 3: And that's the difference.
01:31:25
Speaker 10: That's it.
01:31:25
Speaker 3: And so. Ultimately, they are resolved, but at the expense of not having your local channels through these outlets that people think they have to have when they don't, because you're really kind of paying for something you don't really have to pay for because you can get that. And I switch back and forth all the time. Do you do that, Eric?
01:31:48
Speaker 2: Every now and then.
01:31:48
Speaker 3: I don't watch a lot of local, but every now and then I do. Sometimes on the weekends. And I have a family that we all use the... You know, we all use one service.
01:31:58
Speaker 4: One service, yeah.
01:31:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, we all share. And if there's too many on one, I'm like, okay, I'll just go.
01:32:02
Speaker 2: Now, we can get it live on our TV anyway.
01:32:04
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:32:04
Speaker 3: Like a Colts game.
01:32:05
Speaker 7: It seems like it's been off for a long time.
01:32:08
Speaker 3: It probably has. It probably has, yeah. Most recently, it was a Colts game. I just went to local TV. Yeah, you couldn't get it if you don't have it. Well, yeah, I had too many users on the thing, but I just switched. I just went to my TV, click, click. Went over to Channel 4. There it is.
01:32:22
Speaker 2: There it is.
01:32:24
Speaker 4: Anyway.
01:32:24
Speaker 3: I don't want to get too deep into the woods, but you can do that. And like I said, an $ 8, $ 10 antenna, I don't think there's too much more than that.
01:32:33
Speaker 7: President Donald Trump has fired his press secretary, Katie Zechariah, after five days. Get this, Eric.
01:32:45
Speaker 3: She beat Scaramucci. Scaramucci had 11 days. You remember Scaramucci?
01:32:49
Speaker 6: I remember the Mooch.
01:32:51
Speaker 3: She beat his record. What did she do, James?
01:32:55
Speaker 10: Nothing.
01:32:55
Speaker 3: You know Elmer Fudd?
01:32:56
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
01:32:57
Speaker 3: Elmer Fudd. What didn't she do?
01:32:59
Speaker 1: She's just a.
01:32:59
Speaker 7: Anyway, let's move on.
01:33:00
Speaker 2: 317.01310.
01:33:00
Speaker 3: Former Counselor Duke Oliver has been holding... Counselor Oliver, go ahead. How are you?
01:33:13
Speaker 6: Oh, yes, just great.
01:33:14
Speaker 10: I'm over here at the Community Lifeline Church of Reverend Larry Bates, and a couple of things that some of us have been talking about. But two things, Tina, I want to bring up, and that is about the voting situation, early voting and voter turnout. But first, I want to bring attention, if we'd like to get on the air, if we could, and schedule time to talk about 11-11-11, which is.
01:33:41
Speaker 10: Okay.
01:33:42
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, yeah, just email me, shoot me an email and we can, you know, we can figure that out.
01:33:46
Speaker 6: Okay.
01:33:47
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:33:49
Speaker 10: Let's go back to the, uh, to the voter and what's going on here across the country. Uh, the current administrator head is doing all he can to organize many of us that have been maybe silent and not very proactive about voting and participating in the process. And the way that things are being uncovered by the national administration, the things that they're saying, many of us have read the history books about Reconstruction and what it was like before Reconstruction.
01:34:24
Speaker 3: Okay.
01:34:24
Speaker 10: When Reconstruction occurred, some were allowed to vote, et cetera, et cetera. And improvements were made.
01:34:33
Speaker 2: Gains were made.
01:34:34
Speaker 10: And now we're back to a point to where you've got to publicly guess how many Jelly beans.
01:34:41
Speaker 2: In a jar in order to be able to vote.
01:34:43
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:34:44
Speaker 10: This is what's happening now in real time. And many of us men and women have been discussing these things on participating on our voter turnout.
01:34:55
Speaker 6: Okay.
01:34:55
Speaker 2: In Marion County, Indiana, we are one of the lowest.
01:34:59
Speaker 7: Turnout in the country.
01:35:00
Speaker 10: Okay. We're at the bottom of the list, in the bottom 10 list, the lowest. And we're going to try to improve upon that by doing things that can get us a different outcome. So we've been discussing that, talking about it. I, myself, advocating that try to get, let everyone know that I talk to you, you try to get 100% turnout. I get my precinct. Start with that. My household, my next door neighbor, my precinct, 100%. And obviously some will say, you'll never get 100%. No, no, no, no, no, no. Talk to the individuals. Ma'am, when I call you up, sir, when I call you up, Mr. Brown, Mr. Oliver, I'm your representative, et cetera. I'm a community activist, et cetera. I'm a member of NAACP. Whatever it is I'm representing, we're trying to get 100% turnout in our community, 100%. We begin with ourself and with the household and the next-door neighbor, not the whole city, being with yourself.
01:36:08
Speaker 3: Each one, reach one. It kind of sounds like, yeah, it sounds like a, you know, grassroots, grassroots level campaign. That's a fantastic idea. That's a great idea. That's the way it works.
01:36:24
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:36:24
Speaker 10: Anywhere that we gather at, I'm over here at Reverend Bates Church like that. Reverend Bates, please.
01:36:31
Speaker 7: Hello, Tina.
01:36:33
Speaker 3: Hi, Reverend Bates. How are you?
01:36:35
Speaker 2: I'm fantastic. You doing okay?
01:36:38
Speaker 3: I'm doing fine, doing fine.
01:36:40
Speaker 10: Good, good.
01:36:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, just like Duke said, we're trying to get 100%. And, you know, if we can do it, fantastic. You know, the easy part, I think, was getting people registered. Now we've got to get them out to vote. And it's vital, Gina, that people vote this time. If anybody's happy... with what's going on in this country right now. I'm trying to figure out how and why. Yeah. Yeah.
01:37:13
Speaker 7: Yeah.
01:37:14
Speaker 3: So, but I, I, you know, I really admire that what, uh, what you and, uh, former counselor Oliver are, are saying and, and are planning to do. And hopefully we can, we can share that and, and get that, uh, get that pat, what do you call it? Pass it on and, and, you know, keep it moving, get the chain moving because, Like you said, James, this weekend is go time. It's go time every day. It's been go time since October 6th when it opened. You know, early voting opened up at the city county building for, you know, only in Marion County. Million people only vote there until the 24th. But it doesn't mean anything. You know, we that is what it is. And so we can just take advantage of what we're going to be doing and what we're going to. what we're going to have at our disposal, and we will work with that. So I, yeah, that's a great idea.
01:38:03
Speaker 7: And yeah.
01:38:05
Speaker 10: I don't know how we got to where we're at. When I thought it out at the age of 20, 21, I was asked to get ready to vote, et cetera, et cetera. And there was some excitement and pride and and being able to do that and participate. I couldn't wait to be 21 in those days. I had to be 21 when I was 18. And they created these districts. I don't know where the fault lies, but want to move on they create these non-competitive districts which is great at that time obviously you could uh you can't it's going to win because we're in stack and pack districts stack and pack districts instead of having five uh a state representative in our area, because they all stacked and packed in turnout and raised their voters of that party, maybe that some of that participated in a low voter turnout.
01:38:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, indeed. Well, can you both get back in touch with me and we can get something scheduled? That would be, you know, I like the idea.
01:39:05
Speaker 7: Love it.
01:39:06
Speaker 3: Love the idea.
01:39:07
Speaker 10: Well, recognizing that I, you, and many of us are in these stacked and packed districts and our candidates will get elected. If I don't vote.
01:39:17
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
01:39:17
Speaker 10: We're trying to change that. We're trying to get 100% turnout.
01:39:22
Speaker 2: Well, let's schedule that.
01:39:23
Speaker 3: Let's schedule that conversation. OK, because, you know, we'd like to let some other folks in. Yes, indeed. So, yeah, just shoot me a quick email or text me or whatever, and I'll get with the scheduling thing here. We've got a lot of stuff in here, but we're going to, you know, we're going to work it out because we will pack every show if we have to.
01:39:40
Speaker 10: A lot of guests on.
01:39:41
Speaker 2: Yep, yep.
01:39:42
Speaker 3: No, no, no. I say coming up. No, coming up. We're going to get it in there, though. I'm glad you called and we'll get you in.
01:39:48
Speaker 7: OK.
01:39:48
Speaker 3: Looking forward to it. All righty. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Reverend Bates.
01:39:53
Speaker 4: Thank you, Gina.
01:39:54
Speaker 2: Indeed.
01:39:55
Speaker 3: Marvin, go ahead. What were you saying, Eric?
01:39:57
Speaker 5: I was just going to say, before we go to Marvin, there was a listener who wanted to know how they can get the yard signs of their candidates.
01:40:04
Speaker 3: Typically, the easiest way is the candidate's campaign offices.
01:40:08
Speaker 7: Their offices.
01:40:09
Speaker 3: Or whoever's handling media or whatever for that particular candidate.
01:40:14
Speaker 6: Stop by the campaign office.
01:40:15
Speaker 3: Campaign office.
01:40:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:40:16
Speaker 3: Or they go to the website. Just contact them.
01:40:19
Speaker 2: Two ways. Okay.
01:40:20
Speaker 3: A couple ways, yeah.
01:40:21
Speaker 5: Indeed.
01:40:21
Speaker 4: Indeed.
01:40:22
Speaker 3: Now, Marvin, go ahead. How are you?
01:40:25
Speaker 2: I'm well. Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. I'll be quick.
01:40:30
Speaker 6: I just wanted to say, and I asked Eric when I called in, I was leaving my main job to my part-time job.
01:40:36
Speaker 2: If I could get a break.
01:40:37
Speaker 6: I was trying to tell him what to say about politics. But anyway, I just wanted to say, when I saw, I first saw that poll on Abdul's Facebook page, and it didn't surprise me, Tina. I was out helping my preferred school board candidates, even though I'm not in the district, but I want to help these IPS school board candidates win. And the voter sentiment, I don't care if they were black, white, Hispanic, if they can speak English, they are not happy with what's happening in our city, in our state, and in our country. And I think we're going to have some shock if vote by, I think, leads the Democratic ticket. I think we're going to see some movement at the statehouse. I'm no political analyst, but it just feels that way. Because people, I think people think that people don't have, you know, I remember back in the day, and I'll be quick, because I know we're in the show when, you know, the Republicans would call the Christian folks in the country the silent majority. I think people think because folks are not as vocal that they think they are not in tune with what's going on in our country. And I hate to say, and in our city, people are in tune. They might not be out to protest. They might not be on their Facebook pages or social media saying things about it. But I'm learning that people are in tune. And I don't care if they're... You know there's always going to be a percentage in each party who just stick with the party no matter how skelter it could be the president.
01:42:09
Speaker 2: And they're going to.
01:42:10
Speaker 6: Continue to support them. But at the end of the day, there are people, I think, in the Republican Party... that are tired of what's going on.
01:42:19
Speaker 2: We can't afford anything.
01:42:21
Speaker 6: Trump is trying to tell us.
01:42:22
Speaker 2: That everything is great. But I know I'm not. Like I said, I work.
01:42:25
Speaker 6: 25 hours a week at my part-time job. And when I can, when they offer an overtime at my full-time job, I might be there 45, 50 hours a week. People can't hardly afford to live. And it's time for a change. And so you've had a great show today. And I just hope people, the one thing I'm worried about, Tina, I think we start learning about.
01:42:45
Speaker 5: The question one too late.
01:42:46
Speaker 6: And I was talking to an African-American person who said, oh, that's great. They thought, until I explained it to them, they thought the way you said they worded that question.
01:42:56
Speaker 5: People think it's great.
01:42:57
Speaker 9: Oh, what's wrong with that?
01:42:59
Speaker 6: You have to think about it, you know. And so I think it came out a little too late, and I'm scared that probably will pass because we just started talking about it too late. I didn't even want to be honest, Tina. As in tune as I am with what's going on, I did not know about that question until And so I think I saw a couple of people start posting about it on Facebook just a couple of weeks ago. So, you know, that might be one of the ones that don't come out the way we want it to.
01:43:25
Speaker 3: But, you know, there was an interesting... But there was an interesting comment that Senator Taylor made that if we can win that question in Marion County, we can defeat it statewide.
01:43:36
Speaker 4: Uh-huh.
01:43:36
Speaker 3: Well, I hope we do. Yeah, that's what, did he not say that? He said if Marion County, if Marion County can get to the polls and vote down that question, we have enough people, you know, statewide, and I don't know what his calculus was or how he figured it out, but I liked what he said. I liked hearing it.
01:43:55
Speaker 9: Before you hang up on me, why did we just start learning about this? I don't remember hearing about it on your show, Two Reasons. Did they just sneak it in?
01:44:05
Speaker 7: Primarily because that question came up yesterday, Marvin. It's just a lot of stuff going on.
01:44:13
Speaker 3: There's so much to keep up with.
01:44:15
Speaker 7: Distractions.
01:44:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there was a big, big thing, and that took up all the air in the room. All of the air in the room was taken up with that redistricting thing, which was very important. which was extremely important and a whole lot of other things. And it just didn't get a lot of other things. Yeah, it just didn't get the light of day that it should have. It simply did not. So, yeah. But thanks, Marvin. And a lot of people have asked that. But, you know, my thing is, don't be discouraged because Mary, if you are here within the you can hear our voices in Marion County in Indianapolis. If Senator Taylor's calculus is correct, his calculation is correct. If Marion County votes that down, it won't go. Marion County. So there's our charge. There's our charge.
01:45:00
Speaker 7: When we stand up for our rights.
01:45:02
Speaker 3: When we stand up. Yeah.
01:45:04
Speaker 10: Dr.
01:45:04
Speaker 3: Brown, any closing thoughts there with you?
01:45:06
Speaker 4: Everything you all have said is correct, and I did say no on that thing.
01:45:11
Speaker 5: All right.
01:45:13
Speaker 7: All right.
01:45:15
Speaker 3: How do you spell that, Dr.
01:45:16
Speaker 2: Brown?
01:45:16
Speaker 3: N-O?
01:45:17
Speaker 1: Two letters. Two letters.
01:45:18
Speaker 3: No. No, no, no, no, no. So, yeah, thank you, Dr.
01:45:23
Speaker 2: Brown.
01:45:24
Speaker 3: It's always a joy to have you with us. And Hopefully you'll be in touch with the two professors we talked with. Eric, you got them all connected up?
01:45:30
Speaker 5: Got them all connected.
01:45:31
Speaker 3: Okay, you guys are all connected up. Who else you having tomorrow?
01:45:34
Speaker 7: I hope one or the other, both can get on the show tomorrow.
01:45:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope they can. I hope somebody can join you. Who else you got tomorrow? What else you got going on tomorrow, you and Thomas?
01:45:41
Speaker 4: I'm trying to remember her name, and you all going to kill me. She going to kill me. She's been the Marion County, over the Marion County.
01:45:50
Speaker 3: Sister.
01:45:52
Speaker 7: Eldridge?
01:45:53
Speaker 3: No, maybe Faith James Kimbrough?
01:45:57
Speaker 4: No, you said... Faith? Used to be.
01:46:01
Speaker 7: He's over what? Myla Eldridge?
01:46:06
Speaker 3: Is it Myla?
01:46:07
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:46:07
Speaker 3: Oh, Myla.
01:46:08
Speaker 6: Okay, well, yeah.
01:46:11
Speaker 5: All right.
01:46:11
Speaker 3: Sounds like you're going to have a good show, Dr.
01:46:13
Speaker 2: Brown.
01:46:14
Speaker 3: Tomorrow morning, everybody, 9 to 10 a.m., Harambe with Dr. Tommy Brown and Thomas J.
01:46:20
Speaker 10: Griffith.
01:46:21
Speaker 3: Indeed. Thank you, James. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. We'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend. Willie Moore Jr. on the radio is up next. We'll talk with you soon.
Speaker 1: WTLC AM, W236 CR Indianapolis. Broadcasting from the Praise Indy Indigo Studios. Discussing the issues that matter to you. It's Community Connection with Tina Cosby on Praise AM 1310.
00:00:16
Speaker 2: 95.1 FM.
00:00:19
Speaker 3: And good afternoon and welcome to Community Connection. I'm Tina Cosby. Today is Friday, October 16th. A lot to get to on the show today, Eric. So I guess we need to just get right to it.
00:00:31
Speaker 4: Lots of stuff.
00:00:31
Speaker 2: Lots going on.
00:00:32
Speaker 3: Lots of good stuff.
00:00:33
Speaker 5: I'm going to step aside and let you.
00:00:35
Speaker 3: Please feel free to join the conversation.
00:00:37
Speaker 6: 317-480-1310.
00:00:37
Speaker 5: 317-480-1310.
00:00:37
Speaker 3: We're also streaming live on YouTube and Facebook. Yes, we are there right now. Yeah.
00:00:48
Speaker 2: At this very moment.
00:00:49
Speaker 3: There we are. On the show today, early voting is underway here and in many parts of the country as we speak, but a large number of voters have yet to cast their ballots. They just haven't gotten there yet. At the bottom of this hour, we're going to have a closer look at elections, the candidates, the offices, and a whole lot more. Just a closer look with a couple of academics who can really, really explain it. But right now, Let's bring in our contributing analyst, James Patterson. James, how are you?
00:01:23
Speaker 7: I'm doing just fine, Tina. How are you doing today?
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Seems like it's been forever since we last communicated. What, 24 hours ago?
00:01:32
Speaker 7: Exactly.
00:01:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
00:01:35
Speaker 7: Yeah, so, you know, time goes by fast.
00:01:38
Speaker 3: It does, it does. But, you know, James, we'll get to some other things a little later in the show. And again... If you want to join the conversation, ask questions by all means, 317-480-1310, 317-480-1310. James, a recently released Free Press Indiana and Bellwether Research Poll of more than 800 Hoosiers, Hoosier voters. That's creating a lot of buzz. Everybody's talking about it. You know, it's all over. And so, again, this is the poll a number of outlets are talking about. And for good cause. There's a good reason. for that. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely, indeed. And 800, that's a pretty good sampling size, is it not? It is.
00:02:23
Speaker 7: It was over 800, yeah. And that is really, and well, we'll get into who they sampled, but that's interesting as well in its own right.
00:02:32
Speaker 3: Well, here now to help us break it down is Lindsay, and forgive me if I mispronounce this, Erdadi. She's the Free Press Indiana News Editor-in-Chief. Lindsay, welcome. How are you?
00:02:44
Speaker 8: Hi, I'm good. Thanks for having me. It's Lindsay Airdoty, for the record, just so you know.
00:02:49
Speaker 9: Airdoty.
00:02:49
Speaker 3: Okay, now I know. I always said. So, Lindsay, I guess the first question is, why did Free Press Indiana commission the poll in the first place?
00:03:01
Speaker 8: Yeah, because, you know, Years ago, normally you would see media outlets commissioning polls similar to this, or even Ball State used to do the Hoosier survey years ago that gave us this independent, trustworthy look at how Hoosiers were feeling about certain things at any given moment. And as newsroom budget cuts happened, as polling became more expensive, you really saw that not happen anymore. And so, you know, one of our parts of our mission is to fill gaps. And this is a gap that we thought we could fill and commission a statewide poll that's truly independent.
00:03:40
Speaker 6: Okay.
00:03:40
Speaker 3: James, go ahead. I'll let you. Yeah, you can kick things off.
00:03:43
Speaker 6: Go ahead.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:03:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, Lindsay. So tell us about who was polled because it was over 800 people. And, you know, people think when they get the results, and we'll give that in just a little bit, but They'll say, well, that's a program. Democrats listen to that, and they probably just sampled a bunch of Democrats, and that's how they– but who– what was the sampling breakdown, if you know it, between Republicans and Democrats that the people sampled just to start out here?
00:04:15
Speaker 8: Yeah, so the breakdown is 49% of Republicans or leaning Republican and 40% leaning Democrat or Democrat. And that's self-ID'd in the poll, but still we did some checking in. We know this is also a poll of likely voters, so that's important to note as well. These are not just anybody out there. These are people who are likely to vote based on previous voting history and saying they plan to vote.
00:04:44
Speaker 3: So let's just go ahead. I just want to follow up on that real quick. Oversampled Republicans. Is that correct? Did I hear that correctly?
00:04:52
Speaker 7: Yep.
00:04:52
Speaker 8: Forty nine to 40, which makes sense in a state that does heavily lean Republican.
00:04:57
Speaker 5: OK, OK.
00:04:57
Speaker 3: I just want to get there.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:04:59
Speaker 7: That's what I'm trying to get at, Tina, was that there were more Republican samples. So that, you know, that really, I think, moves large in kind of the headline of the story here is. from the Free Press Indiana News, and that is that one in four Indiana voters say government's corruption is top concern. You know, I mean, that's a lot for corruption. I mean, people think of politicians as being, you know, kind of overall, you know, just kind of what people think about politicians. Oh, you know, they're just going to they're just trying to, you know, make themselves look great and all that. And there's corruption in government and that's always the way it was and always the way it is and always the way it will be. So why do you think this is significant or do you think it's significant that a quarter of the voters that you sampled, likely voters, think corruption is a significant issue?
00:06:02
Speaker 8: That was one of the surprising takeaways from the results because looking at the other options they had in terms of what is the top issue or what is their top concern in the state right now, inflation and cost of living came in second to government corruption, when normally we would have thought that cost of living and inflation would have been the top concern for people. I mean, especially just as you hear people talking anecdotally, it's such a big thing, you know, whether it's gas prices or grocery prices or or any of those things. So that was striking to us, although we did see another national poll come out this week that also had government corruption at the top. And so I wonder if we're just picking up on maybe this new trend that we might start seeing. We don't know exactly what anyone meant by government corruption. That's something we hope to dig into more with more reporting and talking to voters. um, about that particular issue. Um, and I'm, and I'm really curious to find out what, what people say.
00:07:04
Speaker 10: Yeah.
00:07:04
Speaker 3: And the description, I guess, or definition of corruption, right?
00:07:09
Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly.
00:07:10
Speaker 3: How they, you know, how they saw it. So, so what, what's the headline out of here for you in terms of, you know, as you look at it, what's, what's your headline?
00:07:20
Speaker 8: I think the government corruption is definitely one of the headlines. I'd say the other one is, um, kind of the results in the Secretary of State's head-to-head poll in particular, because you see the Democrat vote by ahead of Republican Max Engeling, eight percentage points, which is outside the margin of error, which is a pretty big amount to be ahead. And you just don't commonly see that for Democrats in the state of Indiana to be up by that much. And, you know, granted, you know, we take all polls with a grain of salt and things can change. There are undecided voters in that poll. Um, so that needs to be taken into account as well. And thinking about how many, uh, voters in the state often just vote straight ticket party and how many of those would just vote for Republicans doing it that way. Um, but it just, it, it really struck me. And then seeing, um, Greg Ballard, who is running under the Lincoln Party, come in at 5%, which is actually under the Libertarian candidate coming in at 6%. That was surprising as well because he's really been out there campaigning. But I think our poll just kind of confirmed that the suspicion that we may have had that he is probably most likely only known in the central Indiana, Indianapolis area. And that's kind of what it confirmed.
00:08:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was surprised that he didn't get, and again, I may have been you know, subject to Marion County, you know, blinders, because not even gaining 10%, you know, 10%, less than 10%, that just, for Greg Ballard, that kind of surprised me. And a lot of times, the mayors of Indianapolis, you know, their name and name recognition goes beyond the borders of Marion County, but that one was surprising to me.
00:09:08
Speaker 7: Yeah, and especially because, and maybe, Mr. Aroga.de can comment on this. And that is that the poll also found that by had significant, that's Bobai name recognition in that secretary of state's race of those survey, just 27% said they never heard of them. Meaning if you were to flip that over, then that would mean what 70, roughly 73% would have, uh, you know, heard of that name by, of course, you know, his father was governor before his grandfather was a senator. And, but conversely, nearly 50% of those surveyed and it's more than 800 likely voters who were surveyed, said they never heard of Mr. Engling, the Republican candidate for Secretary of State. And only 12% said they had a favorable view of him. And did you know, Lindsay, that Mr. Engling's I didn't see it in the article, but he really is campaigning on an issue which I think many people don't seem to be concerned about, and that is voter fraud. He's even running commercials on that. Did that come up in the survey at all, voter fraud?
00:10:38
Speaker 8: We did not ask about voter fraud in particular. But I think you bring up a good point of this name recognition with both of them. And even looking at, for those who do know both of them, Beau has more of a favorable takeaway. 35% of people said they had a favorable opinion of him compared to 18% said unfavorable. When you look at Max Engling's numbers for that, it's only 12% favorable and 17% unfavorable. So The lack of name recognition, definitely a problem. But then for the small group that does know him, that bigger chunk having an unfavorable position on him is probably not a great takeaway for his campaign right now. But it's worth noting too, yes, Bai has the name recognition from his family, but also he has been on TV with ads for longer than Max Engling has. So I'm curious to see, you know, how maybe this will change, you know, if Max Englund gets a little bit more name recognition, putting more ads out there with his face and his name behind it.
00:11:53
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:11:55
Speaker 7: Well, he better get at it. People are already voting in Indiana. So, you know, I mean, he you've got a lot of ground to make up.
00:12:03
Speaker 3: Probably one of the certainly one of the most compelling races to watch. is that statewide secretary of states. And some of these numbers from your polling were very surprising to me. But, you know, again, I wasn't surprised about the name equity, the by name equity in the state of Indiana. I mean, my goodness, that's three generations, you know, starting with his grandfather, then his father, and now him. So, you know, that kind of covers a lot of bases with the name, you know, name equity there.
00:12:35
Speaker 7: Tina, are you going to the next issue? Because I'm going to say the next thing that they dealt with is that Trump's approval ratings have faltered in Indiana.
00:12:45
Speaker 3: That was going to be my next question. Yeah, Indiana voters revealed disapproval of Trump and Braun's performance. Break that down for us, Lindsay.
00:12:56
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is another somewhat surprising takeaway for me because President Trump won the state. I mean, in all of his elections, it's been almost 20 percentage points that he's won by. It's varied a little bit, but it's been he easily has won the state over and over again. And so to see he has a 44 percent approval rate compared to a 54 percent disapproval rate. And when you break that down even more, seeing that 48 percent is in the strongly disapprove spot for President Trump, that is. I didn't expect to see those numbers be so high. You know, there's definitely frustration that we expected to see from voters. Again, if we think about the cost of living issues, gas prices, all of those things that people are worried about right now, you tend to blame whoever is the president. Do you expect it to feel a little bit, and you've seen it across the country with people kind of turning on him, But in such a Republican state, the numbers being as high as they are, that was surprising. And the same thing, I think, it would be true with Governor Braun's numbers, you know, 48 percent disapproved compared to 38 percent approving of the job he's doing. I think a little bit of that might be a Trump trickle-down effect. You know, if they don't think the president is doing well, then they don't think the governor is doing well.
00:14:28
Speaker 5: But, you know, again, it's hard to say.
00:14:29
Speaker 8: We can't ask voters everything we want to know in the polls, right?
00:14:33
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:14:35
Speaker 7: Look, Ms. Ergody, I'm looking at your aggregate graph here, and it's got, just like you mentioned, in Indiana, 48% of voters strongly disapprove of Donald Trump, and then 5% somewhat disapprove. Did I have that right?
00:14:57
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:14:58
Speaker 7: Okay, that's 53% who either somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of President Trump. I mean, you know, this is really shocking in this state. And I just, I mean, you just talked about that, but I don't think you gave it justice. I mean, what is it that you think is driving this, this sudden abandonment of the president that they... supported so wholeheartedly just less than two years ago.
00:15:34
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of what I've mentioned with the cost of living issues. I think he was elected on this platform that he was going to lower prices. And I think he still talks a lot about that. But then people go to the grocery store and They buy their groceries and they see that that bill is higher. You can't really tell them otherwise. It's coming out of their checkbooks. And same thing with gas prices and the war. He campaigned on this idea of no new wars and America first. And I think people have seen some of these conflicts that we've gotten the country into as, well, that's not what he said he was going to do. And they're not happy about it.
00:16:20
Speaker 3: But you... My question, approval and disapproval ratings, they don't necessarily always correlate with votes or voting behavior. Correct?
00:16:31
Speaker 7: Absolutely.
00:16:32
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:16:32
Speaker 3: And so, you know, the ability to predict either a blue wave or a red apple cart upset or whatever they say, whatever they were saying is just not. And I'm going to be curious to see how that translates, how these approval and disapproval ratings translate when it comes to who votes, who gets out to vote, who they vote for, and what have you, because voters can be very dissatisfied and can share with pollsters their dissatisfaction, but yet and still, they may vote, you know, a certain way.
00:17:09
Speaker 7: Or they may stay at home.
00:17:10
Speaker 3: Or they may stay at home, yeah.
00:17:11
Speaker 7: Yeah, because if they somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove, like you said.
00:17:15
Speaker 3: That's just a feeling, yeah.
00:17:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, it... it may not mean that they come out and vote, you know, like you said, Tina, they may not be telling it. I mean, they may just be saying that and not, but I mean, that's, if they're going to tell them that they may just say, Oh, the heck with it. I'm not even going to vote. You know, I would, I'm not going to vote for a Democrat, but I'm certainly, and that's really another vote for a Democrat. But I wanted to ask you too, which Tina mentioned at the, at our opening is Mike Braun. I mean, I'm looking at your graphics and he has, 35% strongly disapprove Ms. Lindsay and 14% somewhat disapprove. That's 49% total, either somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove the governor who has through his own, through his little stroke of the pen suspended the gas tax. What for how many straight months now, which makes Indiana's gasoline, um, and diesel fuel, frankly, among the lowest in the nation, if not the. So why is it still, are they blaming him, too, for the grocery prices and the fuel prices and everything else?
00:18:28
Speaker 8: I mean, it's possible, absolutely. Yeah, you would think that him suspending the gas tax would give him a little bit of a boost there. But I think they might also be looking around their communities and not feeling happy with Their schools, you know, we've heard a lot of pushback with the property tax bill that passed last year and how that's really hurting local government, local school budgets. People might be thinking about that. You know, this is all just kind of like speculation in terms of what went into someone saying they disapprove of the governor. You know, they might... not be happy with job growth in their community. They might think, um, that the state needs to be doing more to, to make investments, um, in different areas. Uh, you know, it's, it's a little hard to say. And I do think I mentioned this too, that some of it is definitely this like trickle down effect of, you know, if someone's mad at the president and the governor is on the same party, like that's just the way they're going to keep, you know, responding to the poll. The other, uh, kind of related stat to point out when talking about the governor's approval rating is whether or not people think the state is on the right track. And when we asked about that 30, 35% said the state is on the right track versus 47% said the state is headed in the wrong direction and 18% said they didn't know or they were unsure.
00:20:01
Speaker 3: And was there a deeper dive into that question in terms of what heading in the wrong direction might mean or that basically was left open for for them to answer one way or another?
00:20:12
Speaker 8: That was left open for them to answer one way or another. We did ask about a few specific issues, energy costs, construction of new data centers, eliminating property taxes, things like that. And with the energy costs and data center questions in particular, 90% of people said that they are concerned about rising energy costs.
00:20:35
Speaker 3: Impacting their households.
00:20:38
Speaker 8: That's just a huge amount. So if they're upset about how much they're paying for utilities right now, they might be looking at the governor and blaming him. And now, to the governor's credit, he has been trying to do things, trying to pressure the IURC and switch leadership up there to you know, bring down utility costs, but someone might be looking at this and being like, it's still not enough. My electric bill is still way too high.
00:21:03
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:21:04
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:21:04
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:21:05
Speaker 3: And having recently received an electric bill, I know how they feel. I can't imagine. So do I. Yeah. It's just inexplicable what's going on with the cost of utilities and the billing and you know, it seemed to be arbitrary in nature. But so be that, yeah, that was the other big headline from this, James, was that, you know, the majority of those polled feel like Indiana is heading in the wrong direction. And this is statewide. So, I mean, you know, we're not just, go ahead.
00:21:38
Speaker 7: Well, I was looking to see, and maybe Mr. Gordy can tell us What about data centers? Did that come up at all as something that people were concerned about?
00:21:53
Speaker 8: Yeah, we asked them if they favor or oppose the construction of new data centers in the state, and 69% said they oppose, while 18% said they were in favor of it. So again, that's a strong number.
00:22:05
Speaker 7: Of people in opposition.
00:22:07
Speaker 8: Of new data centers in the state, which that didn't totally shock me. I mean, we've heard story after story of You know, local government meetings, people coming out and protesting against new data center projects and trying to push back against all of them. But it's more, you know, confirmation of, yeah, the majority of Hoosiers do not want new data centers in the state.
00:22:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, so... No, go ahead, James.
00:22:32
Speaker 7: Go ahead. Well, real quick, I mean.
00:22:37
Speaker 7: Lindsay, it's like the perfect storm, isn't it? I mean, people are against it. The data centers are trying to push. The cost of living is through the roof. You can't buy a gallon of gas or go to the grocery store without having sticker shock. I mean, it's just everything is just out against them, isn't it? I mean, the people in power.
00:22:58
Speaker 8: Yeah, which is not super uncommon in a midterm election either. You know, it tends to not go in favor of the party currently in power.
00:23:08
Speaker 7: Go ahead, Tina.
00:23:08
Speaker 3: No, no, no. No, I was just I'm just saying so this this was not I don't know. This wasn't a typical Hoosier polling. If you you know, I guess if you say typical Hoosier. But to me, they're just the outliers. Governor Braun, Donald Trump, Hoosiers heading in in the wrong direction. Those are all stronger numbers than anyone probably anticipated, I would think, in a state like Indiana.
00:23:38
Speaker 7: Yeah, and it says here at the end of the survey results that I'm looking at that Bellwether Research surveyed 896– almost 900 registered voters. And, Lindsay, can you tell us about the– I guess the qualifications of Bellwether to conduct this sort of survey, Bellwether Research? Why did you guys choose them? Free Press Indiana choose them?
00:24:11
Speaker 8: Yeah, we told them they've polled in Indiana before. They have a strong reputation for conducting solid, trustworthy polls. Christine Matthews, the pollster with Bell River Research that we work directly with, she has experience even polling for former Governor Mitch Daniels. And so we felt that they would do a really good job. And I mean, looking at the results and the demographics of who's included in our poll. We feel like they did a great job with it and that this is a solid poll to look at and see a snapshot in time of how people feel.
00:24:46
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:24:47
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:24:47
Speaker 3: Well, congratulations on this. Certainly an eye opener.
00:24:51
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:24:53
Speaker 3: Very quickly, was there you said it was a likely voter. So I There wasn't a direct question of, will you be voting? But I guess when you ask, are you likely to vote? So there's no way to tell who, how many of this 896, this group of 896 will definitely be voting? Or was there a question like that, like possibly, probably, or definitely?
00:25:16
Speaker 8: So they reached, they contacted 896 registered voters, 839 of those said they were certain to vote, likely to vote, considering voting or had already voted. So those are the people that are included in our likely voter results.
00:25:30
Speaker 10: Gotcha. Gotcha.
00:25:31
Speaker 3: Okay. That's a good number. That's a good number. So they're, yeah, they're going to be engaged. I wonder if this is an indicator at bellwether, so to speak, of how much engagement we're going to have throughout this election season and on election day. Any Any thoughts on that, Lindsay?
00:25:48
Speaker 8: Well, one of the questions we did ask was, you know, compared to previous elections, are you more enthusiastic about voting or less or the same? And 42 percent said they were more enthusiastic. Only 9 percent said they were less enthusiastic. And then 49 percent said about the same as usual. So, I mean, if you look at that and only 9 percent are saying less enthusiastic, that's that to me indicates that we should probably see some decent turnout.
00:26:17
Speaker 10: Right, right.
00:26:18
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for this snapshot. This is huge. And like I said, everybody's talking about it, so great job. Great job. Thanks for coming.
00:26:25
Speaker 7: Thank you.
00:26:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you so much. And we'll just check back afterwards, I guess, and compare notes after the results are in. All right. Thank you so much indeed. And we'll be back talking more elections. 317-480-1310. This time from a different perspective. We'll be right back. Are we back?
00:27:10
Speaker 10: Hello?
00:27:10
Speaker 2: You're back.
00:27:11
Speaker 3: We are indeed. What an amazing snapshot. What an amazing look. When I saw that poll, James and Eric, I don't know about you guys, but it was eyebrow raising.
00:27:23
Speaker 4: I must agree.
00:27:24
Speaker 7: James, how about you? Yeah, I mean, it is incredible. And I'm telling you, people who out there intend to vote, you're thinking about voting, maybe you'll vote. The enthusiasm is there. And if you don't take part this year, then you can just say, why should you ever vote?
00:27:42
Speaker 6: Because now is the time.
00:27:44
Speaker 7: People are motivated and you need to get with the program. Really.
00:27:48
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker 3: And boy.
00:27:52
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:27:52
Speaker 3: And again, polls are a snapshot in time. They certainly are. You know, these were taken the first week. These questions were asked the first week. or second week, and they're no clear indicator of, of somebody, you know, clearly voting, although likely and probable, I think are good words to use based on the information that these, uh, who were polled gave, uh, the, uh, the researchers. So, uh, we're going to keep an eye on, I, I don't know.
00:28:19
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:28:19
Speaker 3: What do you think?
00:28:20
Speaker 7: You know, based on, you know, I listened to a little bit of, you had Julia Vaughn, your, um, your contributor, you know, uh, on, on Monday. And, uh, your election contributor. And she was like, yeah, well, it's up compared to the last midterm, which would be, you know, you know, 2022 compared to the last midterm. It was it's up about double. So the enthusiasm is there and that is borne out. And exactly.
00:28:49
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:28:50
Speaker 3: So folks are going. Well, anyway, joining us now, James and Eric are two political science professors from the University of Indianapolis. And we're also going to talk elections, but more specifics in terms of offices, people, policies, and things of that nature. So our first guest, Dr. Greg Schufelt. I hope I said that right. I'm mispronouncing names today. Is it Schufelt?
00:29:16
Speaker 7: Schufelt.
00:29:17
Speaker 3: Schufelt. Schufelt. Okay. Dr. Schufelt, you're with the University of Indianapolis, and your specialties are American politics, political parties, and state and local governments. Is that correct?
00:29:28
Speaker 5: Correct.
00:29:29
Speaker 4: Okay.
00:29:29
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for being here. And also with us, your colleague from the University of Indianapolis, also a professor of political science, specializing in American politics, public administration, state and local governments, Dr. Laura Merrifield-Wilson.
00:29:43
Speaker 10: Dr.
00:29:43
Speaker 3: Merrifield-Wilson, are you there?
00:29:46
Speaker 5: I am, and I want to thank you for having me today.
00:29:49
Speaker 3: Well, thank you both for being here. This is This is really going to help, and I'm going to tell you why. In addition to just the callers and the call-ins that we get, and James and Eric know that, and I guess also some of the things that come in on our feeds, other feeds, James and Eric can attest, a lot of people just have basic questions like, what is that office?
00:30:10
Speaker 10: Who is it?
00:30:11
Speaker 3: How does that work? And so we're going to take a little closer look at all or a lot of what we're facing and talking about each day as November 3rd Draws closer. And I have to tell you, I got to tell both of you that to kick things off, I want to read an email to you that I received from a listener a couple of weeks ago. And it reads and I'm reading it verbatim. Tina, I know that you will soon ramp up info about voting. We know that a lot of people vote for national candidates and ignore the local candidates. Can you have someone come on and explain the positions? What are people supposed to do in those positions and what qualifications do people need to be effective in that position? If we are to hold them accountable, how do we do that? What do we need to know to hold them accountable? For example, what does a controller do? State treasurer, county assessor, et cetera, et cetera. So how does this position impact us locally? So lot there. A lot of questions, and doctors, I will let you all decide who would like to go first to get us going. But that was the email that prompted this discussion we're having now.
00:31:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I can kick us off, and Dr. Shufelt, I know, will be able to add in here. I think this is a wonderful email, and I'm excited. When people say, I know there are going to be races I'm unfamiliar with. I know there are offices that I don't know the details because that's an honest voter. And I think a lot of times there are races that we think, wow, I didn't even know this was a thing in state government. And especially when you get to local government offices, you may not recognize races. who's running and know what the offices deal. Those are called low information races, low information elections. And that is very natural and normal. So you shouldn't be intimidated. You shouldn't feel bad. You also shouldn't skip them. But as the author of this email to you suggest, right, finding more information is really important. There are a number of voter guides available. League of Women Voters publishes nonpartisan information about races and candidates. WFYI has a voter guide. I believe the Mirror Indian Capital Chronicle. There are a lot of media outlets that have voter guides. And I I always recommend to voters also looking at the sample ballot. You can go to indianavoters.com and put in your address, right? Confirm that you are registered. The registration deadline has passed, but make sure that you're registered and then look at your sample ballot. See who you will be getting to decide on, what races. Look at the two constitutional ballot amendments. Those are very important. Look at any school referendums. but do that well in advance. And then for the races you don't know, use the ballot guides, use Google, right? Look up the individuals, look up the offices themselves. I know we can get into more detail about specific offices. I think if you do a little bit of legwork on the back end, not only are you more informed as a voter, but I think you're going to be more confident too. You're going to know that you're making the best selection of candidates that reflect your values and you're not just guessing or feeling overwhelmed. And this will be a very large ballot for most Hoosiers. There's a number of offices, the constitutional amendments, many judicial referendums, retention elections. There's so much there, right? It'll help make sense of all the decisions you have to make. And that's making you an educated, informed and empowered voter.
00:33:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's fantastic. Great information.
00:33:56
Speaker 10: Dr.
00:33:56
Speaker 3: I mean, excuse me, James, a question. For Dr. Shufeld or Dr. Merrifield-Wilson?
00:34:03
Speaker 7: Yeah, let me just continue with Dr. Wilson and then we'll get Dr. Shufeld in here. But first question is just kind of a housekeeping thing because you're going. I couldn't write as fast. I'm not taking notes in a college class. League of Women Voters and Mirror Indy were the two I caught where you can get voter guides. Where is the other place?
00:34:26
Speaker 5: Yes. Oh, so like vote411. org is the League of Women Voters website. And they provide this nationally. I believe that Mirror Indie has a voter guide. Yeah, and Capital Chronicle I find to be a really helpful resource as well. I always think it's good for people to look like looking at news outlets, right?
00:34:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the Indy Star has a voter guide. I think I just put these out today, if I'm not mistaken.
00:35:00
Speaker 5: And utilizing news websites, I think is really helpful. Sometimes people get sucked into interest groups and interest groups will have a bias. I think they're also pretty obvious in the bias. That can be helpful if you support that interest group, right? Or even if you don't, you know where they stand. But I like local news. This is the benefit of the media, that watchdog feel, right? They're able to provide you an overview of everybody who's running. And then you don't personally have to dig information on individual candidates. They'll have it organized by race. by your district or township, I think it makes it the easiest and most efficient way to inform yourself before you vote.
00:35:37
Speaker 7: Okay, thank you, Dr. Wilson. Dr. Shufelt, just a quick follow-up. And that is, I've got my sample bill here on the screen in front of me that I downloaded from the election board website. And it's got on the second page, It says, shall we retain, and then it has several judges of the Marion Superior Court. Shall we retain them? So-and-so, for example, I'm just, you know, giving a name. Shall Judge Patrick J. Dietrich be retained in office? How's just a regular voter to know whether to retain this particular judge if they've had no dealings in the courts? You know, how do you research that, I guess, as a question I want to ask you, sir.
00:36:28
Speaker 11: Yeah, so first, great question. If I could just echo something that Dr. Wilson said, as you're doing all of this research ahead of time, as a voter, you're able to bring that information with you into the polls.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: Oh, that's good to know. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, can we repeat that? No, seriously, because I think that may go over some folks' heads. Yeah, repeat what you just said.
00:36:52
Speaker 11: You can bring your homework with you. You can bring a list of these were the people that I wanted to vote for. And you can have that information ahead of time so that when you go into the polls, you're looking for the names. It's not the first time that you have to remember off the top of your head, who do I want to vote for? You can look up, do I want to vote to retain Judge Patrick Lutrick? And you can have an answer on a note card or on a sample ballot that says yes or no. And you can bring that information into the polling booth with you.
00:37:19
Speaker 3: I never knew that.
00:37:20
Speaker 7: Same here.
00:37:21
Speaker 3: That will make a tremendous difference. Yes, yes. Because I go in with a lot of, you know, we all do. You have all the questions. You know, a lot of stuff in your head.
00:37:28
Speaker 6: Exactly.
00:37:28
Speaker 3: And it's like, I'm trying to remember, what did I read here? What did I say? Never once did I think they.
00:37:33
Speaker 11: All have the same first name of judge.
00:37:34
Speaker 9: So how are you.
00:37:35
Speaker 3: Supposed to remember? Very good point.
00:37:38
Speaker 10: Very.
00:37:39
Speaker 3: But I don't know. Maybe it's the the honesty that I always learned in school. When you go for a test, you can't cheat. You can't take notes in there with you. But unless it's an open book test.
00:37:49
Speaker 7: But yeah, so you can bring.
00:37:51
Speaker 11: That information in. And so to answer the specific question about these retention elections. One, I think it's important to know that these are classic examples of what Dr. Wilson called low-information elections. In general, most judges do get retained. That's just more often the.
00:38:08
Speaker 7: Case than not.
00:38:08
Speaker 3: That's what we heard yesterday, yeah.
00:38:11
Speaker 11: We don't have personal experience with that. And so for me, on a lot of these low-information elections, going to interest groups can be helpful. The American Bar Association... uh, polls, uh, practicing attorneys that practice in front of these judges. And so you can actually see, uh, which judges they're recommending get retained, but also the breakdown of the votes so that you can see that in general, you know, 90% of, uh, lawyers that have practiced in front of this judge think that they were fair and impartial and should.
00:38:45
Speaker 2: Be retained in the job.
00:38:47
Speaker 10: Wow.
00:38:49
Speaker 2: Those are the people that are going to have, uh, you know, the most kind of direct.
00:38:52
Speaker 11: Evidence of it. Um, But, again, in all things, you can always use Google to kind of supplement that. If somebody has been arrested or in the news for the wrong reason, that might come up, and that obviously wouldn't be something that they're campaigning on because they don't have an opponent in these races, right?
00:39:10
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:39:10
Speaker 11: Whether or not they should stay in the job or not.
00:39:12
Speaker 3: They're appointed, right, in Indiana, appointed by the governor?
00:39:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:39:18
Speaker 7: Isn't that just– wait a minute. Is that they're appointed– Everywhere, I thought it's just Marion County and- Oh, Marion.
00:39:27
Speaker 11: I'm sorry.
00:39:27
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
00:39:28
Speaker 5: Marion.
00:39:28
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
00:39:30
Speaker 7: No, no.
00:39:31
Speaker 3: Greg Taylor.
00:39:32
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:39:32
Speaker 7: Go ahead.
00:39:33
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
00:39:33
Speaker 7: Professor.
00:39:34
Speaker 11: Yeah, there's a little bit of variation across the state in different counties. But in general, this process is called a merit election where they're appointed and then periodically they face voters for retention. But that's different than in other states where we have judges in partisan elections or in nonpartisan elections where there's opponents. And so in these types of elections, they tend to get reelected. But looking at interest groups is helpful, especially if you don't know. So like in the school board races, you can see that some candidates are endorsed by groups that we might think of as more supportive of private solutions for public education and other groups that are endorsed by teachers unions. You can get more and more of that information to make a choice of which candidate, whether it's for a judge or a school board, is consistent with what you want.
00:40:20
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, I don't know if you teach this in your class. I'm sure you do. But we had Senator Greg Taylor on yesterday, and he made the point that I'm sure you're aware that four of the five largest counties, including Hamilton, which does not do this, have their judges appointed by the governor by law. And these are the urban counties, whereas the others, which are– you can deduce from that that they are rural counties. They elect there. So that's why it's also confusing or it might be confusing to a voter because it's do you retain this person, and you have to know. And I think the Marion County Bar Association, the Black Legal Association, is a source too. It's a partisan source. It's one of the two. You said the American Bar Association. I think, I don't know if they're affiliated with them, but I think it's a national bar association they're affiliated with. But the Marion County Bar Association, yeah, the National Bar Association of Marion County, they are a partisan source as well.
00:41:35
Speaker 4: Yep.
00:41:36
Speaker 3: We have one of our colleagues who has a show on Saturdays, a talk show on Saturdays, Dr. Tommy Brown, has a question for our panel.
00:41:45
Speaker 1: Dr.
00:41:45
Speaker 3: Brown, welcome back. How are you today?
00:41:47
Speaker 4: Oh, I'm doing fine, but in just these first 10 minutes of this, I am frustrated because I just went and did early voting yesterday, and oh my goodness, it was a good, I like what was going on, but if Your guests can call in tomorrow and help inform people, because I sure needed what James was talking about. I needed some sheets and some stuff.
00:42:19
Speaker 7: Yeah, Dr. Brown, the professors here, Dr. Shufelt and Dr. Wilson from University of Indianapolis. I'm telling them to call in tomorrow.
00:42:29
Speaker 4: Jesus Christ.
00:42:31
Speaker 10: Okay.
00:42:32
Speaker 3: You know what I'll do, Dr. Brown, is I will have Eric give the number to the show tomorrow between 9 and 10. That's right. And I will have Eric give both of them the number. It's the same number as they just called in.
00:42:47
Speaker 7: Right.
00:42:48
Speaker 4: Right.
00:42:49
Speaker 3: But they can talk to Eric. Do you need to speak with them further, any further? I don't know what their calendars or anything like that is, but we can certainly connect you two. Is that good?
00:43:01
Speaker 4: Well, the thing is, when I heard them present, and, you know, they're from the university, and we need to have more university in the community with that kind of information. But the dynamics was, God, there's a lot of people going out there And when I got in there in the making my votes, I'm looking at stuff. What is this about? What is this? Who is this judge? Who is this? What are these new statements and stuff? And I'm saying, I thought I was kind of intelligent, but when I walked, I figured, I don't know. I don't know that. I don't know.
00:43:42
Speaker 9: Dr.
00:43:43
Speaker 7: Wilson, let me ask you this question. And Dr. Shufelt, you can follow up if you want to, but if, If people haven't done their research and they don't know who to retain, we're talking about the Superior Court, even the amendments questions, question one and question two, has it been your experience that they tend to just not check anything on those boxes at all?
00:44:11
Speaker 5: That certainly does happen. And I think that's probably the most responsible thing to do as a voter if you either truly don't know and you don't want or have the time to look it up in the polling place. Or if you really don't have an opinion, right? If you've looked and you can't decide which one of these fits your vision and your values and what you see as being the preferred option. You can tell that. You can tell when people skip. a race because it's roll-off voting. You can add all the votes together and you can see sometimes some races, some issues. You mentioned the two constitutional amendment questions are really important for Hoosiers to understand. They're on your ballot right now. If they add up to a different number than what typically top of ticket, in our case, that'll be the Secretary of State and then your congressional representative. If they add up to a smaller number, you know people just voted for some of those races and not all of them. I think the most important thing is when you come with that information, and Dr. Schufel is absolutely right, you can bring it with you. When you've looked ahead of time, you know what to expect. And that way you're not surprised. That way you're not caught off guard. I've also heard what I would consider to say a horror story of people that don't know and then they guess. I think that's irresponsible voting. Because you didn't prepare. And then I don't really want anyone guessing on anything in life. You know, it's a red light or a green light. You should know the difference and act accordingly. So I think when you're thinking through the process, certainly the preparation is helpful. The education, informing yourself in advance. And doing that in that way, you won't be suddenly surprised to look at your ballot and be like, wow, two constitutional amendments. I wonder what this is about. You've had the opportunity to inform yourself, think through it, and have a sense of which one you would prefer.
00:46:11
Speaker 4: Can I add something in there?
00:46:14
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
00:46:16
Speaker 4: No, I like her presentation. She said either be a red light or green light. I think yesterday I was nothing but a yellow light.
00:46:27
Speaker 7: Those constitutional amendments, read them.
00:46:36
Speaker 4: And then at the end, when you finished everything, they take you through a review on the voting thing. I had to go back and start reading all over again. I was almost asking you, are you sure on this? Are you satisfied with what you said?
00:46:49
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:46:51
Speaker 4: You kind of have.
00:46:52
Speaker 7: To approve it at the end. Yeah, you have to approve everything at the end to make sure that you didn't make a choice that you didn't intend to make.
00:46:59
Speaker 4: Well, James, like I said, I felt like after listening to that dynamic professor, I think I was a yellow light.
00:47:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, but some of it is, you know, with more knowledge, you know, the more you know, the more likely you are to perhaps change behavior that is not beneficial to what it is you're trying to accomplish.
00:47:18
Speaker 2: Right.
00:47:19
Speaker 3: And so with this, you know, additional information and added information, the more people know, the more they're going to know. And so that's, you know, that's the goal of this whole show so far today. The more you know, the more you're going to know. And so I certainly, the next time I vote, I think I'm going to be, I always thought I was prepared. But I think I'm going to be even better prepared because like James and and a whole lot of other folks, I do have notes and I do have an idea. But I, you know, I maybe just stress myself too much trying to make myself remember when I didn't realize I could take my notes with me, you know, to refresh my memory if I don't always recall.
00:47:59
Speaker 2: So.
00:47:59
Speaker 3: You know, I know I'm better. I've learned I'm better as a result of knowing more.
00:48:04
Speaker 10: Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:04
Speaker 7: And I've learned, too, that you can go to websites and get the.
00:48:09
Speaker 3: The voter guides.
00:48:10
Speaker 7: Get the background. Yeah, the voter guide on the judges. Yeah. But Dr. Wilson mentioned earlier about the amendment question, and that's a hot topic. We've been talking about that. We talked about it yesterday. I don't know how Dr. Brown feels about.
00:48:25
Speaker 10: It, but... Good.
00:48:27
Speaker 4: No, you're right, James. You're right, because those two things I was on top of, and I said, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, now we're changing the Constitution. Well, I won't say what I did, but.
00:48:38
Speaker 7: Right. I know what you're saying, but you were knowledgeable about it.
00:48:42
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
00:48:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, but Dr. Wilson and Dr. Shufelt and Dr. Brown, we learned earlier this week, too, that a number of states... automatically, as part of the voting season, they mail to every citizen voter guides. That's right. They're mailed to. Indiana is one that does not.
00:49:05
Speaker 7: Oh.
00:49:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, a number of states do that just as a matter of course. And Julia was telling us about that. Julia Vaughn.
00:49:15
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:49:15
Speaker 5: What?
00:49:16
Speaker 2: Yes.
00:49:18
Speaker 7: Oh, my. What's your take on that, Dr. Shufel? What do you think about that? Yeah.
00:49:23
Speaker 11: So I think in general that Indiana doesn't send voter guides to voters is part of a larger systemic effort that we have kind of a poor civic culture in Indiana.
00:49:35
Speaker 7: Right.
00:49:37
Speaker 11: There are other states that make it a lot easier to vote, that you can register to vote on the day of the election. Polling hours are open longer, that citizens can collect signatures and put questions on the ballot for individual things. And so when Dr. Wilson and I were talking earlier about resources, we were talking about having to go to media outlets and other places to get that information. And in other states, that information is provided, and there's more of an incentive to get that information in the hand of voters. And perhaps not surprisingly, those states have higher voter turnout. Indiana is also one of just a few states that still has the option to straight ticket vote by just checking a single box. And that really hurts things like these retention elections or these constitutional questions or historically school board races. because those aren't covered by partisan. If you just check the Democrat or the Republican ballot. And so that's part of the reason why in these lower level races, your vote actually matters more because less people are participating in them.
00:50:38
Speaker 7: That's a good point.
00:50:42
Speaker 8: Uh-huh.
00:50:43
Speaker 4: That's a, I'm getting education right now.
00:50:50
Speaker 3: I was reading some of our comments on our stream. Speaking of voting, the Marion County Election Board has provided clarity. This is Counseling 5185. Clarity to the social media post regarding marks on the ballot. Please review and share. The clarification is posted on Marion County Election Board's social media page. That is part of a conversation that we had as well, James, the other day about marks on your ballot. You know, when you've completed everything and just about to walk out the door, your ballot does have to be initialed. Prior to that, going into the voting area and the voting booth, there should be no marks there. physical marks on your ballot, just the stickers that you get on as you're going through the process.
00:51:36
Speaker 7: Yeah.
00:51:38
Speaker 3: Thank you, Counseling 5185. Thank you for that.
00:51:41
Speaker 7: Sounds like it's blowing up over there. Dr. Wilson, the amendment question. Tina, didn't Senator Taylor say and Representative Pryor that to get an amendment on a ballot, it has to be passed by the legislature in two, I think, consecutive sessions to get it on a ballot? Yes, he did say that. Yeah. Well, my question to you, Dr. Wilson, is how come a lot of people are saying, you know, I never even, we had calls yesterday, I never, why are we just learning about this now? And they were blaming the legislators that they didn't know about this amendment, this really shaky question about changing the Constitution, as Dr. Brown said.
00:52:20
Speaker 5: Oh, yes. Well, you know, these have been known. We have a conservative, not ideologically conservative, but conservative slow process, really thoughtful process to change the Indiana Constitution of 1851. And as you mentioned, the legislators, they're right. It has to go through two successive legislative sessions. An amendment proposal does. It has to be passed through both, obviously, before it can go to voters. Now, I don't blame voters or legislators. There's a lot to pay attention to. That's true in politics and life.
00:52:52
Speaker 3: That's the other thing they said.
00:52:54
Speaker 7: There's a lot.
00:52:56
Speaker 5: These have been introduced. They had gone through twice. I think I was first aware of the bail amendment back in the spring when it had cleared the hurdle the second time in the state legislature, and we said, okay, this will be on the ballot in November for voters. Again, I just keep going back to that prepare and educate yourself as a voter because It's okay if you missed it when it was going through the state legislature. A lot does go through the state legislature. The important thing, I think, to know about the process is that they, meaning the state legislature, our government, cannot unilaterally change the state constitution without our, meaning voters, Hoosiers, consent. And that's why the amendments to the state constitution are very important. We don't see them very often. It's unusual to have two at one time. And at the same point, I'd say just like any other office that you're voting on, any of these races, the constitutional amendments are incredibly valuable, right? It will very much change the way the process of law works in the state. But I don't think it's anyone's fault necessarily for not paying attention or just missing it with everything else going on. You don't have to know about it until you make a decision on it. And now that you're voting, you will make that decision. So this is the important time to inform yourself to understand both the pros and cons. I think especially for the first public question, which is the pre-child bail, probably has a lot more attention to it.
00:54:27
Speaker 3: Right.
00:54:27
Speaker 5: But in both cases, that includes the local judiciary requirements of residency. Inform yourself now before you have to vote. Yeah.
00:54:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, we I have a I got a text message about ballots. Can we talk for a moment about ballots? And I have no problem with that. But we have to squeeze in a real, real quick. Do you all have a few more minutes?
00:54:49
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:54:50
Speaker 3: OK. OK, well, let's take a quick break right here and we'll be right back with more right after this.
00:55:06
Speaker 1: WTLC AM, W236 CR Indianapolis. Broadcasting from the Praise Indy Indigo Studios. Discussing the issues that matter to you. It's Community Connection with Tina Cosby on Praise AM 1310, 95.1 FM.
00:55:23
Speaker 3: And we are back heading into our second hour. Talking elections the entire show today. Our contributing analyst, James Patterson, is with us, as is our producer, Eric Garns. And we have with us political scientists from the University of Indianapolis, Dr. Laura Merrifield-Wilson and Dr. Gregory Shufelt. Again, both from the University of Indianapolis and, of course, our good friend and colleague, the excellent, always excellent Dr. Tommy Brown here. A little bit before he's previewing his show for tomorrow, his Operation Breadbasket Presents Harambee show, community show for tomorrow. And Dr. Brown, you you said you just finished voting early and you like me. I wish I'd have known some of this before I went in. I mean, I think I did okay, but I'm going to be a whole lot better the next time I tell you.
00:56:09
Speaker 4: You're so correct. Their information is so important. I wish I'd have had them six months ago.
00:56:22
Speaker 3: Indeed. So, James, go ahead. Yeah, we're going to— I've got.
00:56:27
Speaker 7: A quick question. You got, if you want to get somebody in, Tina, on the line or something, let me know.
00:56:32
Speaker 3: I'm just answering, I'm answering different, I'm going to different directions, but go ahead.
00:56:37
Speaker 7: Okay, this is for Dr. Shufel, and again, Dr. Wilson can chime in as well. But we're looking at, in looking at that question one, and it talks about, you know, the language, which is, we've said is objective, I mean, subjective and also discretionary when it comes to bail. They want to be able to deny bail in a nutshell here to people if there's some evidence that the prosecutor believes would put the public in danger. And, you know, I'm just kind of paraphrasing. But the reason I am is because what I have on my screen is the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. It says excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. I guess I'm saying, does that question one, do you think it would kind of butt its head against the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution? I mean, the Eighth Amendment talks about excessive bail. It doesn't talk about denying bail or granting bail. but do you see any possible constitutional problems? And I'm not asking you to either take one side or the other, but just as an objective viewer of this question one, do you see any constitutional problems with it?
00:58:11
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:58:12
Speaker 11: So I think broadly, regardless of maybe how I would We personally choose to answer the question. The fact that we're asking citizens to interpret this language and then identify whether or not it's a good policy or not is difficult, especially based on the little bit of information that gets to appear on our ballot. And so like voters should go into the polls with concerns, regardless of how they might vote on this. And so I think it's a fair thing for a voter to consider, like, well, I kind of feel like we should have a right to bail. We should have a right to a reasonable amount of bail. And I don't like the subjectivity that's in this question. And maybe that informs why I'm going to vote in a certain way, but I don't have enough kind of clear information here to identify, like, is this excessive? Is this going to prevent people from having due process until they're in charge in front of a court? So I think it's perfectly valid to ask that question. I would defer to constitutional experts on whether or not it is or isn't, but I think it's definitely fair for voters to consider that when they make their mind up.
00:59:17
Speaker 7: Okay, good, fair point. Dr. Wilson, your take on it?
00:59:21
Speaker 5: Yeah, I concur with Dr. Shufall entirely. We're political scientists and we study the political aspects I think it's important that voters have a say in changing their state constitution, but it's also an incredible responsibility, right? You're leaving it up to their interpretation, their understanding, and ultimately their application of both the U.S. Constitution and then also in this case, the change that they would be potentially making to the Indiana State Constitution of 1851. I think a lot of times constitutional amendments When they come to voters, people are kind of surprised by them. I know we talked about that earlier. They don't necessarily anticipate and prepare for them. But arguably, this is even more important, and I would make this statement, right, more important than any one individual running in a race for office. because these constitutional changes are more fundamental than simply laws that are passed. And they can be undone. We've done that at the national level as well, where we've changed the Constitution and we've changed the change we made to the Constitution. But they're incredibly important. So we're giving voters a tremendous amount of responsibility here in making the decision of whether or not to change both bail and that residency requirement as part of the second constitutional referendums.
01:00:42
Speaker 3: I want to talk ballots because I had a question about that. And there are you know, we'll probably get into that a little bit more next week. But you were saying the low information elections. What are some of the more important offices then to pay attention to? I know that we're getting an incredible amount of attention. on the Secretary of State's race, which is the chief elections officer in the state of Indiana. But do people really understand what chief elections officer means? Because that's just, you know, a compressed word that we use and throw around and not necessarily explaining what it is that we're saying, you know, a lot of times in the main. And I think we're guilty of that as well, James. But what are some of the most important offices that impact the most people that people need to know the most about. Not that they're not all important, because if they weren't, they wouldn't be up for vote. But some of the larger ones, yeah.
01:01:40
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll go ahead and start, and then we'll have Dr. Sheffield, and we'll see how much we concur or disagree. Obviously, they're all important, and every candidate is going to think that their race is the most important. I'm going to make an argument for one type of office in one group. Okay, the type is the state legislature. We have a part-time state legislature, but they create policy. They make laws that impact us in the state. And especially in the Trump administration, we've seen a return to more state control, more state responsibility and authority. So I think our state legislators are oftentimes overlooked. undervalued in a certain way, but they have a lot of power. So I think those state legislative races, I'm talking about your member of the Indiana House of Representatives and your member of the Indiana State Senate, both part of the Indiana General Assembly, are really important. In addition to that, just generally writ large, local government, township trustees, constables, we don't always interact with them on a daily basis for individuals. They provide Uh, assistance, right? Emergency relief, law enforcement, uh, constables serve as small claims, uh, bailiffs. But I think these are really government that's close to the people. They are likely your neighbors or people in your community you may know of that are running for these offices. And they're not career politicians, as the saying goes, right? They're not people that are using this to necessarily climb the political ladder, but they're people trying to provide a public service. They see an opportunity for them to give back, to contribute, to be involved in public service in some ways. So I think just generally speaking, those local offices are really important as well.
01:03:19
Speaker 4: Okay.
01:03:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:03:20
Speaker 11: And then if I could jump in, I would agree with that in the abstract. But then I'd speak to my specific ballot, which I imagine looks like a lot of ballots for voters in Marion County. Most of my races aren't contested. Most of the people that are running for office don't have an opponent. So the person that's going to be the auditor doesn't have an opponent. The people that's going to be the recorder doesn't have an opponent. And so a lot of times the choice has already been made in a primary several months ago. And part of that's because we live in such kind of siloed, homogenous communities where we're surrounded by Democrats or we're surrounded by Republicans. And so for me, the race that I would probably echo the most, in part because it's competitive this cycle, but the secretary of state race, because it has the ability to shape elections, free and fair elections is a prerequisite for every other office. And so in the abstract, I absolutely would agree with state reps. but mine has already been elected because they don't have an opponent. I would agree with state Senate, but my state Senator has already been elected without an opponent. So it's having those kinds of choices that are really important to have in November. And some of us don't have money to make.
01:04:35
Speaker 7: Yeah.
01:04:37
Speaker 3: Treasurer, county treasurer. I mean, I, yeah, just, just, just, I'm just throwing that out there. If you happen to see it on a ballot and in a particular upcoming election, county treasurer, is that one you need to look for? Or do you just assume, you know, they just handle money, treasury money, whatever?
01:05:02
Speaker 5: Hello?
01:05:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sorry.
01:05:05
Speaker 11: I don't quite follow the question.
01:05:07
Speaker 3: No, I'm just I'm just throwing an office out there.
01:05:08
Speaker 7: No, no.
01:05:09
Speaker 3: You thank you very much for your because you were secretary of state. I'm saying if somebody opens a ballot and they see, you know, treasurer or recorder or, you know, vote for this person that if these things are on the ballot, are these important things to take notes on? Or should you just assume that, you know, these these offices are important as well.
01:05:30
Speaker 2: Right.
01:05:32
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think every issue that is on the ballot and every position on the ballot is important because we get to choose it. If it wasn't on the ballot, we might assume that decisions would be made differently and it would be professional civil servants making these decisions. But because the choice is being kicked to voters, if there's a choice to be made, then it is up to us because depending on who wins an election, that could have very concrete consequences. impacts on the quality of life that local Hoosiers feel. So I would say all of these races are important. If you have a choice to make, you should do your research about what the office does and what the two or more candidates are offering.
01:06:15
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:06:15
Speaker 10: James, go ahead.
01:06:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:06:18
Speaker 7: Tina, I'm intrigued by Dr. Wilson's statement that the whole reason for this forum, this panel today, This this discussion was because of that, you know, the text or the email that you received. And, you know, people were just kind of befuddled about what they and we've been informed greatly by these two professors. But I am intrigued by Dr. Wilson's statement that the constitutional amendments questions are more important than any political race on the ballot. That is just can can Dr. Shufelt.
01:06:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, yeah, I guess.
01:06:59
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:07:01
Speaker 11: So I'll definitely support that in that candidates come and go, governor administrations come and go, but constitutions don't get changed that often. And so they tend to have a long lasting impact and can impact a lot of us when we're not paying attention. And so it's often the devils in the details.
01:07:19
Speaker 2: And so sliding.
01:07:20
Speaker 11: Something into the constitution, if people aren't paying attention to it, it ends up lasting for hundreds of years. whereas opposed to a bad policy decision might be able to get undone the following November. So I'd absolutely support that.
01:07:33
Speaker 3: Well, and that kind of echoes what the state lawmakers who were here in studio with us yesterday said, that it's a lot easier to vote one in than it is to change it. And once they get in, once these amendments are made, they're really, really hard to change, very difficult to change. I mean, it can be done, as Dr. Wilson stated, but the lawmakers that do the work— And it's interesting that one of you mentioned, I can't remember which, that we have a part-time legislature. Yeah. So the distinction then, are there legislatures in the country that go full all year round?
01:08:10
Speaker 5: Yes. Yeah, I'll talk about that. Yeah, there are actually. So the National Conference of State Legislatures organizes, they created five categories. for state legislatures. And Indiana is a perfect three. We're right in the middle, very mid, very average in this way, because our state legislature meets three to four months out of the year, depending on whether or not it's a budgeting cycle. We budget every other year, but there are states like New York, Pennsylvania, California, where their state legislators are full-time. They get paid a full-time salary, so to speak. Indiana legislators are making around $ 35, 000 a year. Certainly not nothing, but they oftentimes have another job or they're retired, right? So they're doing something for the months of the year they're not in office for those highly professionalized state legislators, they look a lot like Congress, right? This is their full-time gig. They are there the whole time. And it does impact legislation in terms of a process. For Indiana, legislation is made during the session. And when we're not in session- The governor is still in office and present and active, right? But unless the state legislature is called back, which can only be done by the governor, they're not in special session. They won't come back until org day and then again in January for the beginning of the next legislative session. So there's a range of state legislatures. And when we're talking about how often they're in session, it impacts how much legislation they pass. It impacts the speed at which they pass it. It can impact the quality, quite frankly, of the legislation. And those are, it's a state-by-state issue. So there's certainly categories for it, but there's not a lot of uniformity. It really does depend on the state. Yeah.
01:09:58
Speaker 3: And I just, I don't know. Did you know that, James?
01:10:02
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:10:03
Speaker 7: Indiana is an agrarian state. I mean, it has a An agricultural history. So it grew out of that.
01:10:12
Speaker 9: Yeah.
01:10:13
Speaker 3: And, you know, it's not even the same once a year. I mean, sometimes it's short, sometimes it's long. It depends on whether or not they have to get the budget passed.
01:10:20
Speaker 7: Right.
01:10:20
Speaker 3: Which tends to go a little bit longer.
01:10:23
Speaker 7: And they got it, you know, they insist on ending at a certain time because when they started, it was like, we got to go. and get our crops in the ground, right? And, you know, and then they got to harvest them in the fall, and then they get ready to come back in January. So it was all based upon the agriculture economy, in my view. I don't know, professors may have some other, you know, reasons for it, but that's the way I saw the way it evolved.
01:10:51
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah.
01:10:51
Speaker 4: Can I ask a question, y'all?
01:10:53
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Dr.
01:10:54
Speaker 5: Brown.
01:10:54
Speaker 3: I was just about to head to you. Go ahead.
01:10:57
Speaker 4: This is fabulous. This is phenomenal. But I'd like those two professors... who are political scientists, my question to them and James or any of y'all, what is the ethics within our system of the politics here in Indiana? Is there any ethical system or value system in place that you can articulate?
01:11:21
Speaker 2: Hmm.
01:11:24
Speaker 4: I know that's kind of awkward because that was my major was ethics.
01:11:31
Speaker 2: Uh, Ethics?
01:11:32
Speaker 3: Ethics or value?
01:11:35
Speaker 7: Of who, the legislators or who?
01:11:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, the candidates.
01:11:39
Speaker 7: The lawmakers?
01:11:40
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:11:41
Speaker 4: Of the lawmakers, those who are working, do they have a value system that's even in our Constitution to make them make decisions that really deal with, as we say so often, the democracy or the democratic democracy system?
01:11:59
Speaker 5: Yes.
01:12:00
Speaker 3: Ethics or values other than the oaths of office that they take when they assume office?
01:12:06
Speaker 7: Well, their values reflect their.
01:12:10
Speaker 3: Culture, their party, where they live, who they represent, how they grew up, what they're taught, what they believe.
01:12:24
Speaker 7: And then I think their ethics reflect that, but the professors can weigh in as well if they want.
01:12:34
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think by and large, there is the oath of office. We have laws to ensure that people behave ethically. And it's not to say that they always do. It's obviously incredibly important. And I'd add it's most important in public office because you have a public responsibility, right? You're representing individuals in the community. You have a fiduciary responsibility because you're utilizing money that does not in fact belong to you, but it is tax dollars given to you by the community to serve a community purpose and value. There's lots of levels there that probably overlap both ethics codes, and in addition to that, some legal boundaries. But there's individual ethics, too, like what people think are good and bad and right and wrong. And I think that's really important when you're evaluating candidates to see if the candidate's ethics align with your own. It's also very difficult to make that kind of evaluation and judgment because you don't always have that information. It may be hard to glean. Sometimes we know what the quote-unquote right answers are, but that's not necessarily how someone would behave if put in a certain position. It's definitely challenging to assess, but of course it's going to be very important as you're looking at candidates. You want someone who behaves ethically and And I hope, you know, if you're running for public office, that's part of your intention. But I'm also not so naive as to believe everyone acts and operates in the same way, right? We recognize there's some differences there.
01:14:08
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:14:11
Speaker 3: Okay.
01:14:11
Speaker 10: Dr.
01:14:11
Speaker 3: Brown, did you get that?
01:14:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, I got it. The judiciary process has things you are supposed to do and you should not do. And in regard, when you take an oath, you're taking an oath to follow certain guidelines. Am I right?
01:14:30
Speaker 5: Well, yeah.
01:14:31
Speaker 9: Yeah.
01:14:32
Speaker 3: That's what you're pledging to do in terms of, yeah, how you're going to do what you're going to do in the job.
01:14:39
Speaker 5: Yes. Yeah.
01:14:40
Speaker 11: And I also think it's probably fair to say that the oath of office is probably a minimum requirement. I think many of us probably have higher expectations for the ethics and values of our legislative officeholders, but.
01:14:53
Speaker 1: again, as Dr.
01:14:54
Speaker 11: Wilson was saying, it's kind of to each their own that they have different motivations and different perspectives of what's the right way to handle their business.
01:15:01
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:15:03
Speaker 10: Wow.
01:15:05
Speaker 3: Anybody else? And Dr. Wilson and Dr. Shufeld, anything that you want to add? I know we're getting close to the, I asked for a little extra time and I don't want to take too much more, but Anything you want to add or add perspective or add to a point that was made in the conversation? I mean, please, please feel free, because we have a few minutes before we have to let you go.
01:15:28
Speaker 5: Yeah. Well, I want to say thank you for this opportunity. And thank you for having these conversations, for spending the airtime to encourage voters to get engaged and to go through some of these questions. Sometimes I think some of these might be questions we didn't even realize we had. And then you hear someone ask it or you hear it addressed. You're like, oh, that explains it. I really hope folks that tune into your show, they've been listening all week, so they've learned a lot about this election cycle and the process, that it gives them both confidence and also the impetus, the motivation, right, to be informed when they're voting. And I think that's an important public service. I think voting is an incredibly important civic duty. It's an obligation that we have. It's a right and a responsibility. But sometimes we just, I think we take it for granted, quite frankly. So thank you for cultivating these kinds of conversations. They're incredibly important in our community.
01:16:24
Speaker 3: Absolutely. No, thank you. Thank you.
01:16:26
Speaker 6: Dr.
01:16:26
Speaker 3: Sheffield.
01:16:28
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:16:28
Speaker 11: And I think the other thing that I would encourage your listeners to kind of keep in mind is that For democracy to work best, this education has to keep going after the election, too. We need to pay attention to what happens at the state capitol. We have to pay attention to what happens after the election, because that's how we hold people in office accountable.
01:16:49
Speaker 3: I was just about to ask, is that where that phrase, because that was one of the questions in the email, is what does it mean when we say hold people accountable? And much like we have been saying register and vote, don't just register, register and vote. Marion County, Indiana, state of Indiana, doesn't necessarily have a voter registration problem. According to the numbers per se, it has a voter participation problem. which, you know, has is, you know, I don't know how that relates to voter registration. But, you know, so vote. I mean, register to vote and vote. So after you once you vote, vote and follow up. And the follow up is the quote unquote holding office holders or those you voted for or elected accountable, meaning ask the questions, demand answers, find out what's what. Is that is that what you're saying?
01:17:43
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's just it's a full time process to be an active citizen, to go to the meetings, to go to the state capitol, to contact your elected official, to see if they're voting the way that they campaigned on. Elections are a great equalizer in how we can hold people accountable. But a lot happens in between every November.
01:18:01
Speaker 3: Truly, truly, it does indeed.
01:18:05
Speaker 1: Dr.
01:18:05
Speaker 3: Brown, any any closing questions you have for our panel before we close this out?
01:18:10
Speaker 4: Hey, they've done an excellent job, and they're classroom teachers. It would really be interesting to see how they transmit information to potential voters that's going to become voters. And they use the word, and I'm going to have to try to define it, and James and Eric and all y'all, what is the role of being a citizen in the United States of America?
01:18:38
Speaker 3: Role, responsibility, yeah, a whole lot of those things, yeah.
01:18:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was excellent.
01:18:44
Speaker 3: No, just don't want to take it for granted. I love that. We should never take it for granted because it's incredible. We don't want to lose it. We got to know as much as we can know.
01:18:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, we got some people getting ready to be taken out of there, and I won't start another conversation. What's going on with, you know, taking some people out of Congress because they may not be legally from the country. That's a whole nother.
01:19:09
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, that's another one. James, any final questions? Yeah.
01:19:14
Speaker 7: I do. I would like to ask, since Dr. Shufelt and Dr. Wilson are both political science college professors at the University of Indianapolis, I would like to ask them both. And either one can go first. I'll just pick one, Dr. Shufelt and then Dr. Wilson. Do you notice any enthusiasm difference compared to other elections this time around in your students? Is there any talk of, you know, being involved as a poll worker or getting to the polls or getting their friends involved or working on campaigns? Is there any difference that you've noticed among your students, the many classes that you teach that you can put your finger on? Dr. Shufelt.
01:20:03
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think in general, our students tend to mirror the general public, that they get probably a little bit more excited for presidential races. But I think given the nature of how polarized our politics are right now, there's definitely what I might say a selection bias. The students that are interested in politics and campaigns and government are really, really interested in those things. The students that aren't interested in them, it's our job to try to spark that passion. And so that's what we're trying to do. But I think most people tend to focus on national elections more than state elections and state elections more than local elections. So, if we can get more people interested and get more people in our classrooms, hopefully we can get more people participating.
01:20:47
Speaker 5: I would echo exactly what Dr. Shufalt said. And I will say, just maybe to add to that, it is really fun to teach college students. they're living every election like it might actually have been their first, right? This is the first time they get to vote. This is the first time they're really paying attention to politics. I always have to remember when we use historical references, which are really important in the context of the work that we do, that they don't necessarily remember the 2016 election. And they may not remember certain elements of 2020 and things like that. But it's exciting to see their enthusiasm and their curiosity and enthusiasm To Dr. Shufelt's point, he's 100% right. We have to cultivate that. You have to work for it. Being an active citizen requires effort, but that's exactly what we're trying to do with students. And you start them early, right? And then they hopefully have a lifetime paying attention, being involved, and being engaged citizens.
01:21:48
Speaker 3: Well, thank you all. And Drs. Shufelt and Wilson, you have dropped a boatload of information. on us and some resources that we certainly are going to share and repeat, uh, over and over, not only through this election season, but just in general. So thank you both. Hopefully I can get you both on here. Uh, I want to thank our good friend Julia Vaughn for recommending you. So thank you, Julia. Uh, and, um, Again, thanks to everybody.
01:22:15
Speaker 7: Dr.
01:22:15
Speaker 3: Brown, we will make sure if Dr. Wilson and Dr. Shufelt can stay online for just a second, Eric's going to give them some information regarding you and your show, and then you all can connect from there. Is that good? Is that good, Dr.
01:22:30
Speaker 10: Brown?
01:22:31
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:22:31
Speaker 5: Okay, okay, okay.
01:22:33
Speaker 3: All righty. And, James, you'll be back with us, Eric. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll all come back to finish out the show. We've got another 30 minutes to go. We'll be right back.
01:22:42
Speaker 5: Yes.
01:23:01
Speaker 1: Let's get back to the conversation. It's Community Connection with Tina Cosby from the Praise Indy Indigo Studios on Praise AM 1310, 95.1 FM.
01:23:13
Speaker 3: And we are back. James Patterson and Eric Garnet it is right now. Anyway. Wow. The segment with the professors, the political science professors was really, really good. And I just love knowing what I didn't know, now knowing what I didn't know before. Because, Jane, no matter how prepared we all think we can be, there's always, always something more we can learn. And something that simple, you can take your notes with you as you go through. And I'm going to tell that to my family that may not be watching here. I don't know about other states, but in Indiana, you can do that. That's great.
01:23:59
Speaker 7: That is great.
01:24:00
Speaker 3: We put too much pressure on ourselves sometimes. But where is that written, James? Where is that written?
01:24:07
Speaker 7: That you can take your stuff.
01:24:13
Speaker 4: In there?
01:24:13
Speaker 3: Where is that? It has to be what I'm saying is it's not on everyday material that we get regarding voting.
01:24:19
Speaker 7: It's certainly not something that's promoted.
01:24:21
Speaker 3: No, no, it's not promoted. I shouldn't say where is it written. If it wasn't written somewhere, then the doctors would not have been able to share that truthfully with us. But what I'm saying is why is that not more common knowledge or something that we can, you know, I'm certainly going to pass it along every chance I get.
01:24:39
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think, Tina, that overall the professors conveyed this, that Indiana can do a, that's a good thing. That's something you don't see everywhere where you can take notes in there and materials, you know, even, like they give you when you walk through the door, different campaigns have people at the door with their material, with their campaign flyers and material and, you know, background stuff and who they would like for you to vote for. You can take that in. So, I mean, that's something that you don't see in every state. So that is a good point. I just wish that, like the professors were saying, particularly Professor Shufelt, that, you know, we– Actually, I was just thinking about this this morning. A little more than a week. I think it's like, you know, we have– we start on the 24th. So that is, let's see, 24th. Is that a Saturday? Yeah, 26th. Uh-huh, 26th, 27th. So it's like four days before– a week before the election. So it's like maybe– Eleven days we have.
01:25:48
Speaker 3: Of early voting. Yeah, satellite early voting.
01:25:51
Speaker 7: Yeah, where you have satellite. Otherwise, everybody has to go in one fully. So what I'm trying to say is I'm not going to go and beat a dead horse, but they could do better and have it more open. Like he said, it could be longer hours. Other states have that. They could do more to promote it, but it comes down to the individual. that you have got to take the responsibility to keep your democracy. And part of that is voting regularly and informed voting. We learned today, didn't we, Tina?
01:26:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, we did. We did.
01:26:25
Speaker 7: Dr.
01:26:26
Speaker 3: Brown, you still here with us?
01:26:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm still here. I'm learning. Yes, this was.
01:26:31
Speaker 3: Okay. You know you can stay as long as you want.
01:26:34
Speaker 4: We got you.
01:26:36
Speaker 3: We got you.
01:26:38
Speaker 4: No, you all are... This one, many of the programs are very good, but this is one that is very, very important here in our state, here in our county. And I have my concerns that why wasn't our own leaders telling us about this?
01:26:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, ditto to you and your show. I mean, the longevity and the sustainability of that message in our community for more than 50 years. Come on now. Come on. Come on, Dr.
01:27:08
Speaker 7: Brown. That is a cure.
01:27:10
Speaker 3: That is.
01:27:11
Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
01:27:13
Speaker 4: The show has changed you all since the 1968, 69, 70.
01:27:18
Speaker 3: But you're still standing.
01:27:19
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
01:27:20
Speaker 3: That's the key.
01:27:21
Speaker 10: Oh, yeah.
01:27:21
Speaker 3: If you can still, yeah, yes, you're still there. And you're still a voice. And that's what people need. And, you know, what concerns me sometimes is that I don't, I'm concerned that people don't realize how diminished more and more and more and more silenced our voices are especially on airwaves like this and like what you you know dr brown what you've been doing for 50 years yeah you know this is a i mean yeah it is no small thing.
01:27:56
Speaker 7: The country yeah you do not have yes an outlet for voices like like this show.
01:28:02
Speaker 3: And companies willing to allow it We're so, so fortunate with Urban One, our parent company, and our division, Radio One, the Indianapolis stations of Radio One. The sustainability that they have managed to have and the commitment that they keep to the community with the airwaves, that's just unheard of. And it's getting to be less and less around the country.
01:28:28
Speaker 10: So true.
01:28:29
Speaker 3: You've got to know the landscape. So, yeah. Anyway, go ahead.
01:28:33
Speaker 10: Yeah, that's it.
01:28:34
Speaker 7: Well, I was going to say, and I don't want to interrupt Dr. Brown, but I was going to say.
01:28:39
Speaker 4: James, you can be you.
01:28:41
Speaker 7: Well, I was just going to say, Dr. Brown, I have a satellite network. I'm not going to say the name because I'm on this kick where if you're not advertising with us, I ain't saying your name.
01:28:52
Speaker 3: Everybody got to make money.
01:28:55
Speaker 2: Yeah.
01:28:56
Speaker 4: It's true.
01:28:56
Speaker 3: The lights have to stay on.
01:28:58
Speaker 7: A satellite company And right now on my programming, WRTV6, Channel 6, an ABC-affiliated station, is not on the lineup because of a dispute with the satellite company, okay? So I don't have access to a— I believe it's a minority-owned—y'all correct me if I'm wrong— television station. You know, to view where there would be other diverse views on there because of the ownership is committed to diversity. And I don't have access. That's what you know, when you said that, Tina, that struck in my mind, you know, less, less places where we can go and get access. diverse views or views we agree with.
01:29:43
Speaker 3: But you know, if it's, if it's local over the air, you still can get it. You just can't get it through that particular.
01:29:48
Speaker 7: I can't get through that. I have to unhook my satellite, which I'm thinking about doing.
01:29:52
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:29:52
Speaker 3: Okay.
01:29:52
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:29:52
Speaker 3: But you can always go to live TV on that.
01:29:55
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:29:55
Speaker 3: You can go to live TV. That's always an option. There's a way around that.
01:29:59
Speaker 7: I got to talk to you, Eric, because I don't know how to do it. Oh, you just, there's a way to go.
01:30:02
Speaker 3: Oh, he's real. So in fact, I had this conference, very conversation with a friend of mine this morning. And she's been going without TV for three days. I said, you don't have to. I said, she's got these antenna in a box. And I said, she said, well, how do I hook up an antenna? I said, look behind your TV. Put in the little coaxial cable-like thing. Yeah, just stick it in there.
01:30:24
Speaker 2: Put it in there.
01:30:24
Speaker 3: And then if you don't know how to, go to YouTube. YouTube is your friend. If you don't believe me.
01:30:28
Speaker 2: YouTube will tell you everything.
01:30:29
Speaker 3: It'll tell you how to do it.
01:30:30
Speaker 7: You've got to have an antenna, though, right?
01:30:32
Speaker 3: Well, yeah. Put the antenna and then the antenna.
01:30:34
Speaker 7: I don't have the antenna.
01:30:35
Speaker 6: Okay.
01:30:36
Speaker 7: I don't have an antenna.
01:30:36
Speaker 2: $ 8, $ 10.
01:30:37
Speaker 3: You can get them anywhere. You can get them anywhere. And they will scan in the local channels and a whole lot of digital tiers that... Probably nobody even knows that you can't get over, you cannot get on a cable or a satellite network.
01:30:49
Speaker 7: Still, still.
01:30:51
Speaker 3: I know, you're paying for it.
01:30:52
Speaker 7: It's the only black-owned station in the city, okay, television station. And they own two stations because they own a low power. And that should not be.
01:31:03
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, James, unfortunately, this has been going on for years and years and years. And what the dispute is over retransmission fees, which is satellite and cable companies using, charging you money to use what you can get free over the air. And most of the disputes come down to between a half a cent and a quarter of a cent.
01:31:23
Speaker 6: That's true.
01:31:24
Speaker 3: And that's the difference.
01:31:25
Speaker 10: That's it.
01:31:25
Speaker 3: And so. Ultimately, they are resolved, but at the expense of not having your local channels through these outlets that people think they have to have when they don't, because you're really kind of paying for something you don't really have to pay for because you can get that. And I switch back and forth all the time. Do you do that, Eric?
01:31:48
Speaker 2: Every now and then.
01:31:48
Speaker 3: I don't watch a lot of local, but every now and then I do. Sometimes on the weekends. And I have a family that we all use the... You know, we all use one service.
01:31:58
Speaker 4: One service, yeah.
01:31:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, we all share. And if there's too many on one, I'm like, okay, I'll just go.
01:32:02
Speaker 2: Now, we can get it live on our TV anyway.
01:32:04
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:32:04
Speaker 3: Like a Colts game.
01:32:05
Speaker 7: It seems like it's been off for a long time.
01:32:08
Speaker 3: It probably has. It probably has, yeah. Most recently, it was a Colts game. I just went to local TV. Yeah, you couldn't get it if you don't have it. Well, yeah, I had too many users on the thing, but I just switched. I just went to my TV, click, click. Went over to Channel 4. There it is.
01:32:22
Speaker 2: There it is.
01:32:24
Speaker 4: Anyway.
01:32:24
Speaker 3: I don't want to get too deep into the woods, but you can do that. And like I said, an $ 8, $ 10 antenna, I don't think there's too much more than that.
01:32:33
Speaker 7: President Donald Trump has fired his press secretary, Katie Zechariah, after five days. Get this, Eric.
01:32:45
Speaker 3: She beat Scaramucci. Scaramucci had 11 days. You remember Scaramucci?
01:32:49
Speaker 6: I remember the Mooch.
01:32:51
Speaker 3: She beat his record. What did she do, James?
01:32:55
Speaker 10: Nothing.
01:32:55
Speaker 3: You know Elmer Fudd?
01:32:56
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
01:32:57
Speaker 3: Elmer Fudd. What didn't she do?
01:32:59
Speaker 1: She's just a.
01:32:59
Speaker 7: Anyway, let's move on.
01:33:00
Speaker 2: 317.01310.
01:33:00
Speaker 3: Former Counselor Duke Oliver has been holding... Counselor Oliver, go ahead. How are you?
01:33:13
Speaker 6: Oh, yes, just great.
01:33:14
Speaker 10: I'm over here at the Community Lifeline Church of Reverend Larry Bates, and a couple of things that some of us have been talking about. But two things, Tina, I want to bring up, and that is about the voting situation, early voting and voter turnout. But first, I want to bring attention, if we'd like to get on the air, if we could, and schedule time to talk about 11-11-11, which is.
01:33:41
Speaker 10: Okay.
01:33:42
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, yeah, just email me, shoot me an email and we can, you know, we can figure that out.
01:33:46
Speaker 6: Okay.
01:33:47
Speaker 2: Okay.
01:33:49
Speaker 10: Let's go back to the, uh, to the voter and what's going on here across the country. Uh, the current administrator head is doing all he can to organize many of us that have been maybe silent and not very proactive about voting and participating in the process. And the way that things are being uncovered by the national administration, the things that they're saying, many of us have read the history books about Reconstruction and what it was like before Reconstruction.
01:34:24
Speaker 3: Okay.
01:34:24
Speaker 10: When Reconstruction occurred, some were allowed to vote, et cetera, et cetera. And improvements were made.
01:34:33
Speaker 2: Gains were made.
01:34:34
Speaker 10: And now we're back to a point to where you've got to publicly guess how many Jelly beans.
01:34:41
Speaker 2: In a jar in order to be able to vote.
01:34:43
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:34:44
Speaker 10: This is what's happening now in real time. And many of us men and women have been discussing these things on participating on our voter turnout.
01:34:55
Speaker 6: Okay.
01:34:55
Speaker 2: In Marion County, Indiana, we are one of the lowest.
01:34:59
Speaker 7: Turnout in the country.
01:35:00
Speaker 10: Okay. We're at the bottom of the list, in the bottom 10 list, the lowest. And we're going to try to improve upon that by doing things that can get us a different outcome. So we've been discussing that, talking about it. I, myself, advocating that try to get, let everyone know that I talk to you, you try to get 100% turnout. I get my precinct. Start with that. My household, my next door neighbor, my precinct, 100%. And obviously some will say, you'll never get 100%. No, no, no, no, no, no. Talk to the individuals. Ma'am, when I call you up, sir, when I call you up, Mr. Brown, Mr. Oliver, I'm your representative, et cetera. I'm a community activist, et cetera. I'm a member of NAACP. Whatever it is I'm representing, we're trying to get 100% turnout in our community, 100%. We begin with ourself and with the household and the next-door neighbor, not the whole city, being with yourself.
01:36:08
Speaker 3: Each one, reach one. It kind of sounds like, yeah, it sounds like a, you know, grassroots, grassroots level campaign. That's a fantastic idea. That's a great idea. That's the way it works.
01:36:24
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:36:24
Speaker 10: Anywhere that we gather at, I'm over here at Reverend Bates Church like that. Reverend Bates, please.
01:36:31
Speaker 7: Hello, Tina.
01:36:33
Speaker 3: Hi, Reverend Bates. How are you?
01:36:35
Speaker 2: I'm fantastic. You doing okay?
01:36:38
Speaker 3: I'm doing fine, doing fine.
01:36:40
Speaker 10: Good, good.
01:36:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, just like Duke said, we're trying to get 100%. And, you know, if we can do it, fantastic. You know, the easy part, I think, was getting people registered. Now we've got to get them out to vote. And it's vital, Gina, that people vote this time. If anybody's happy... with what's going on in this country right now. I'm trying to figure out how and why. Yeah. Yeah.
01:37:13
Speaker 7: Yeah.
01:37:14
Speaker 3: So, but I, I, you know, I really admire that what, uh, what you and, uh, former counselor Oliver are, are saying and, and are planning to do. And hopefully we can, we can share that and, and get that, uh, get that pat, what do you call it? Pass it on and, and, you know, keep it moving, get the chain moving because, Like you said, James, this weekend is go time. It's go time every day. It's been go time since October 6th when it opened. You know, early voting opened up at the city county building for, you know, only in Marion County. Million people only vote there until the 24th. But it doesn't mean anything. You know, we that is what it is. And so we can just take advantage of what we're going to be doing and what we're going to. what we're going to have at our disposal, and we will work with that. So I, yeah, that's a great idea.
01:38:03
Speaker 7: And yeah.
01:38:05
Speaker 10: I don't know how we got to where we're at. When I thought it out at the age of 20, 21, I was asked to get ready to vote, et cetera, et cetera. And there was some excitement and pride and and being able to do that and participate. I couldn't wait to be 21 in those days. I had to be 21 when I was 18. And they created these districts. I don't know where the fault lies, but want to move on they create these non-competitive districts which is great at that time obviously you could uh you can't it's going to win because we're in stack and pack districts stack and pack districts instead of having five uh a state representative in our area, because they all stacked and packed in turnout and raised their voters of that party, maybe that some of that participated in a low voter turnout.
01:38:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, indeed. Well, can you both get back in touch with me and we can get something scheduled? That would be, you know, I like the idea.
01:39:05
Speaker 7: Love it.
01:39:06
Speaker 3: Love the idea.
01:39:07
Speaker 10: Well, recognizing that I, you, and many of us are in these stacked and packed districts and our candidates will get elected. If I don't vote.
01:39:17
Speaker 2: No, no, no.
01:39:17
Speaker 10: We're trying to change that. We're trying to get 100% turnout.
01:39:22
Speaker 2: Well, let's schedule that.
01:39:23
Speaker 3: Let's schedule that conversation. OK, because, you know, we'd like to let some other folks in. Yes, indeed. So, yeah, just shoot me a quick email or text me or whatever, and I'll get with the scheduling thing here. We've got a lot of stuff in here, but we're going to, you know, we're going to work it out because we will pack every show if we have to.
01:39:40
Speaker 10: A lot of guests on.
01:39:41
Speaker 2: Yep, yep.
01:39:42
Speaker 3: No, no, no. I say coming up. No, coming up. We're going to get it in there, though. I'm glad you called and we'll get you in.
01:39:48
Speaker 7: OK.
01:39:48
Speaker 3: Looking forward to it. All righty. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Reverend Bates.
01:39:53
Speaker 4: Thank you, Gina.
01:39:54
Speaker 2: Indeed.
01:39:55
Speaker 3: Marvin, go ahead. What were you saying, Eric?
01:39:57
Speaker 5: I was just going to say, before we go to Marvin, there was a listener who wanted to know how they can get the yard signs of their candidates.
01:40:04
Speaker 3: Typically, the easiest way is the candidate's campaign offices.
01:40:08
Speaker 7: Their offices.
01:40:09
Speaker 3: Or whoever's handling media or whatever for that particular candidate.
01:40:14
Speaker 6: Stop by the campaign office.
01:40:15
Speaker 3: Campaign office.
01:40:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:40:16
Speaker 3: Or they go to the website. Just contact them.
01:40:19
Speaker 2: Two ways. Okay.
01:40:20
Speaker 3: A couple ways, yeah.
01:40:21
Speaker 5: Indeed.
01:40:21
Speaker 4: Indeed.
01:40:22
Speaker 3: Now, Marvin, go ahead. How are you?
01:40:25
Speaker 2: I'm well. Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon. I'll be quick.
01:40:30
Speaker 6: I just wanted to say, and I asked Eric when I called in, I was leaving my main job to my part-time job.
01:40:36
Speaker 2: If I could get a break.
01:40:37
Speaker 6: I was trying to tell him what to say about politics. But anyway, I just wanted to say, when I saw, I first saw that poll on Abdul's Facebook page, and it didn't surprise me, Tina. I was out helping my preferred school board candidates, even though I'm not in the district, but I want to help these IPS school board candidates win. And the voter sentiment, I don't care if they were black, white, Hispanic, if they can speak English, they are not happy with what's happening in our city, in our state, and in our country. And I think we're going to have some shock if vote by, I think, leads the Democratic ticket. I think we're going to see some movement at the statehouse. I'm no political analyst, but it just feels that way. Because people, I think people think that people don't have, you know, I remember back in the day, and I'll be quick, because I know we're in the show when, you know, the Republicans would call the Christian folks in the country the silent majority. I think people think because folks are not as vocal that they think they are not in tune with what's going on in our country. And I hate to say, and in our city, people are in tune. They might not be out to protest. They might not be on their Facebook pages or social media saying things about it. But I'm learning that people are in tune. And I don't care if they're... You know there's always going to be a percentage in each party who just stick with the party no matter how skelter it could be the president.
01:42:09
Speaker 2: And they're going to.
01:42:10
Speaker 6: Continue to support them. But at the end of the day, there are people, I think, in the Republican Party... that are tired of what's going on.
01:42:19
Speaker 2: We can't afford anything.
01:42:21
Speaker 6: Trump is trying to tell us.
01:42:22
Speaker 2: That everything is great. But I know I'm not. Like I said, I work.
01:42:25
Speaker 6: 25 hours a week at my part-time job. And when I can, when they offer an overtime at my full-time job, I might be there 45, 50 hours a week. People can't hardly afford to live. And it's time for a change. And so you've had a great show today. And I just hope people, the one thing I'm worried about, Tina, I think we start learning about.
01:42:45
Speaker 5: The question one too late.
01:42:46
Speaker 6: And I was talking to an African-American person who said, oh, that's great. They thought, until I explained it to them, they thought the way you said they worded that question.
01:42:56
Speaker 5: People think it's great.
01:42:57
Speaker 9: Oh, what's wrong with that?
01:42:59
Speaker 6: You have to think about it, you know. And so I think it came out a little too late, and I'm scared that probably will pass because we just started talking about it too late. I didn't even want to be honest, Tina. As in tune as I am with what's going on, I did not know about that question until And so I think I saw a couple of people start posting about it on Facebook just a couple of weeks ago. So, you know, that might be one of the ones that don't come out the way we want it to.
01:43:25
Speaker 3: But, you know, there was an interesting... But there was an interesting comment that Senator Taylor made that if we can win that question in Marion County, we can defeat it statewide.
01:43:36
Speaker 4: Uh-huh.
01:43:36
Speaker 3: Well, I hope we do. Yeah, that's what, did he not say that? He said if Marion County, if Marion County can get to the polls and vote down that question, we have enough people, you know, statewide, and I don't know what his calculus was or how he figured it out, but I liked what he said. I liked hearing it.
01:43:55
Speaker 9: Before you hang up on me, why did we just start learning about this? I don't remember hearing about it on your show, Two Reasons. Did they just sneak it in?
01:44:05
Speaker 7: Primarily because that question came up yesterday, Marvin. It's just a lot of stuff going on.
01:44:13
Speaker 3: There's so much to keep up with.
01:44:15
Speaker 7: Distractions.
01:44:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there was a big, big thing, and that took up all the air in the room. All of the air in the room was taken up with that redistricting thing, which was very important. which was extremely important and a whole lot of other things. And it just didn't get a lot of other things. Yeah, it just didn't get the light of day that it should have. It simply did not. So, yeah. But thanks, Marvin. And a lot of people have asked that. But, you know, my thing is, don't be discouraged because Mary, if you are here within the you can hear our voices in Marion County in Indianapolis. If Senator Taylor's calculus is correct, his calculation is correct. If Marion County votes that down, it won't go. Marion County. So there's our charge. There's our charge.
01:45:00
Speaker 7: When we stand up for our rights.
01:45:02
Speaker 3: When we stand up. Yeah.
01:45:04
Speaker 10: Dr.
01:45:04
Speaker 3: Brown, any closing thoughts there with you?
01:45:06
Speaker 4: Everything you all have said is correct, and I did say no on that thing.
01:45:11
Speaker 5: All right.
01:45:13
Speaker 7: All right.
01:45:15
Speaker 3: How do you spell that, Dr.
01:45:16
Speaker 2: Brown?
01:45:16
Speaker 3: N-O?
01:45:17
Speaker 1: Two letters. Two letters.
01:45:18
Speaker 3: No. No, no, no, no, no. So, yeah, thank you, Dr.
01:45:23
Speaker 2: Brown.
01:45:24
Speaker 3: It's always a joy to have you with us. And Hopefully you'll be in touch with the two professors we talked with. Eric, you got them all connected up?
01:45:30
Speaker 5: Got them all connected.
01:45:31
Speaker 3: Okay, you guys are all connected up. Who else you having tomorrow?
01:45:34
Speaker 7: I hope one or the other, both can get on the show tomorrow.
01:45:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope they can. I hope somebody can join you. Who else you got tomorrow? What else you got going on tomorrow, you and Thomas?
01:45:41
Speaker 4: I'm trying to remember her name, and you all going to kill me. She going to kill me. She's been the Marion County, over the Marion County.
01:45:50
Speaker 3: Sister.
01:45:52
Speaker 7: Eldridge?
01:45:53
Speaker 3: No, maybe Faith James Kimbrough?
01:45:57
Speaker 4: No, you said... Faith? Used to be.
01:46:01
Speaker 7: He's over what? Myla Eldridge?
01:46:06
Speaker 3: Is it Myla?
01:46:07
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:46:07
Speaker 3: Oh, Myla.
01:46:08
Speaker 6: Okay, well, yeah.
01:46:11
Speaker 5: All right.
01:46:11
Speaker 3: Sounds like you're going to have a good show, Dr.
01:46:13
Speaker 2: Brown.
01:46:14
Speaker 3: Tomorrow morning, everybody, 9 to 10 a.m., Harambe with Dr. Tommy Brown and Thomas J.
01:46:20
Speaker 10: Griffith.
01:46:21
Speaker 3: Indeed. Thank you, James. Thank you, Eric. Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. We'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend. Willie Moore Jr. on the radio is up next. We'll talk with you soon.
