Jack Colwell
Jennifer Pace won the Republican nomination for Congress in Indiana’s 7th District during the May 7 primary election. That district includes almost all of Indianapolis. She won with 7,716 votes, about a third of the total votes in a four-candidate race.
Her winning margin was narrow over the second-place finisher. But there’s no need for a recount. Pace died in March. The GOP will pick the replacement nominee.
It’s not unheard of for a deceased person — who died after qualifying for the ballot — to win. Usually, it involves a death close to the election in a race for some obscure local office.
But for Congress?
Are Hoosiers so stupid they vote for a congressional candidate who died two months before the election?
Well, voter stupidity or brilliance is in the eye of the partisan beholder.
In this case, however, it’s unfair to be too critical of voters.
There was little if any mention of Pace’s death on TV news and in publications in Indianapolis. There was little focus politically on a “worthless” Republican nomination in a strong Democratic district, where Congressman Andre Carson is expected to win reelection easily.
One voter claimed in a post on X, formerly Twitter, of doing something smart in voting for Pace, deciding to do so after online analysis of candidate questionnaire responses. And being unaware of her death because of no news about it.
It’s wrong to say there was no news. An April 29 Indianapolis Star story on all 7th Congressional District candidates informed readers that in the Republican primary:
“Jennifer Pace, another candidate who qualified for the ballot, died suddenly in early March of what her family believes was a heart attack. She was 59. Pace also ran for the nomination in 2022, earning 12% of the vote.”
Sure, economics-driven cutbacks at newspapers and local news stations curtail coverage of the extensive type offered in the glory days of local news. That’s when there were more reporters providing more detailed coverage. And when darn near every voter was reading a newspaper and listening to local TV news.
Now, news can be there and go unnoticed due to dwindling readership and listenership. Turning to TikTok, conspiracy blogs and Facebook fables doesn’t exactly bring about informed voting.
The low primary election turnout in May has brought suggestions of changing how some nominations are determined, maybe taking the choice away from seemingly disinterested primary voters and instead letting political party conventions choose.
Those calls for change come after the pitiful turnout for what was supposed to be an exciting race for the Republican nomination for governor, with multiple contenders spending many millions upon millions of dollars on TV to get voters to the polls.
Voters yawned. (Maybe because of the quality of that TV deluge.)
There’s no good reason for taking any nominations out of the hands of the voters, unless the desire is also to take fall elections away as well.
It would be different if the problem with low turnout were only in the May primary, with Indiana turning around with robust turnouts in the November general elections.
Indiana voters just don’t get to the polls very much, whether in May or November. In general election voting percentages, Indiana consistently ranks near the bottom among states in both presidential and midterm elections.
So, the problem isn’t just with the primary.
Some factors are:
- Gerrymandering leaves legislative districts with no real contest, lowering voter interest.
- Registration deadlines come early, just as many people tune in to campaigns.
- Absentee ballot eligibility is unnecessarily restricted.
- Voting hours aren’t extended, as many other states do.
- Legislative efforts aim at discouraging voting, not making it easier.
Alleviating those problems would help. So would support for news-providing alternatives and bolstering existing local news so that more voters know whether a candidate is alive or dead.
Jack Colwell has covered Indiana politics over five decades for the South Bend Tribune. Email him at [email protected]. This commentary previously appeared on Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Send comments to [email protected].
