Senate Committee Narrowly Approves Elimination Of Straight Ticket Voting

A Senate committee Monday narrowly approved a bill to eliminate straight voting on Indiana ballots. Some election officials say eliminating the option will do more harm than good.

Indiana is one of only 11 states that currently offers a straight-ticket option – which means Hoosiers press one button to vote for all Republicans, Democrats or Libertarians on their ballot. Albion Republican Rep. David Ober, who authored the bill, says straight-ticket voting means less voting for nonpartisan races, like in school board elections.

“People support candidates and they support them based on their positions on issues and their ability to lead," Ober said. "I think that we reduce accountability on leaders when people don’t have to look at our names, they can just vote a straight party.”

Trent Deckard of the Indiana Election Division says 1.5 million Hoosiers cast straight-ticket ballots in the last three elections.  He says eliminating the option could cause confusion and congestion at the polls.

“It will mean longer lines at the polling place because of a longer ballot for voters to go down the ballot," Deckard said, "and it may ultimately lead to voters not being able to participate in the process because we have a limited 6 a.m.-6 p.m. time period of voting.”

The bill passed five to three.  It now moves to the full Senate.

Indiana 2014 Straight-Ticket Votes

A summary of the straight-ticket ballots cast by county in the 2014 general election.