Indiana Primary laws have always placed Hoosiers at a national disadvantage in regards to the the selection of Presidents of the United States. Starting with New Hampshire, Indiana is the 42nd consecutive State that votes in the national primaries. Only Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, and West Virginia vote after Indiana (as of 2023). By the time the primary opens in Indiana, the candidates in the Presidential race have all been selected. Never in the history of primaries since 1979, did an Indiana Presidential primary become a factor in selecting the final Presidential candidate.
Primaries in Indiana at the local level are often used to upset the other parties general election candidate in advance. For example, when looking at the numbers in the most recent 2023 primary in Vanderburgh County, 76.69% of the voters pulled a Republican Ticket. This is peculiar and an unusually high Republican turnout in Vanderburgh County considering that the county normally only pulls %46 Republican ballots in 2022 and 42% Republican ballots in 2020. That is a 34% uptick in Republican voters between the 2023 and 2022 primaries in Vanderburgh County.
This Evansville Curmudgeon put on his white hat and sleuth skills and began looking closer at what happened and where did all of these new Republicans come from in Vanderburgh County? But really…it is no secret. Democrats voting in Republican primaries and Republicans voting in Democratic primaries is not a new thing and would probably be the actual answer to the question of what the greatest attributing factor to the change was.
In fact, this kind of cross vote contamination has been going on for quite awhile without much public acknowledgement or discussion. It was not until recently that it became a little more known about. For example, in the last Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s race in 2022 that then Sheriff Dave Wedding, his protege Deputy Sheriff Jason Ashworth, and his challenger, Deputy Sheriff Noah Robinson had all 3 voted in different party primaries over the last decade. Wedding who ran 3 times as a democrat is now a self-proclaimed Republican after abruptly leaving the Democratic party in the final hour of his tenure as Vanderburgh County Sheriff. Noah, now a self-proclaimed Democrat who voted twice in the Republican primaries in the last decade was quoted as saying that he is a “proud Democrat who has voted in a Republican primary when competitive races appear on the ballot or when he wanted a more moderate Republican to win the race.” Even Ashworth participating in the back and forth of party disloyalty. Ashworth is the one who brought this whole subject up with a political attack ad against Robinson that eventually back fired on him.
When looking at other well known Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians in the Vanderburgh County area, this tactic of voting in the opposing parties primary seems to be fairly popular. For example, according to the Vanderburgh County voting records, 2nd Ward Councilperson Melissa Mosby a registered and office holding Democrat has pulled a Republican ticket the last 3 times she has voted in the Indiana primaries. Those being in 2020, 2022, and 2023. That further investigation reveals that she has NEVER pulled a Democratic ticket since she first registered to vote in 1994. Does this not disqualify her as a Democrat candidate under their own rules? This seems hard to believe but true?
Our investigation also revealed that Evansville Mayoral Libertarian candidate Michael Daughtery has pulled Republican primary ballots in 2014, 2018, and 2022. This curmudgeon asks, did Daughtery just become a Libertarian? Or is he too just another person taking advantage of this unmonitored voting opportunity to upset and spoil election results?
In the latest news of party politics, the Stephanie Terry campaign has announced a smattering of former Musgrave supporters who are now supporting Terry for Mayor. In an Evansville Courier and Press article, Republican Steve Hammer has shown support for Democrat Terry for Mayor.
Is it True? That all of this leads to having primary election results that are not genuine? That many other States of the union require those who are voting in primaries to actually vote in the party they claim to be from? Often by requiring voters to register for a certain party ticket in advance of the primary election? That a change in party designations requires a new form to be filed with your new party affiliation? Voting in the opposing parties election spoils the results and often stages an easier to beat candidate in the general election? All of this ultimately makes the primary voting system in Indiana a sham.