Low turnout hampers Democrats
Lake County Democrats’ terrible showing at the polls came down to two intertwined factors: low turnout and the money that facilitated it, according to its chairman.
One look at Lake County Chairman Jim Wieser’s face after the first run of voting machines at the Lake County Central Count in the Government complex foretold how the rest of the night was going to go. The percentage of voters at that point was only 15%; at the end, roughly 37% of Lake County’s registered voters came out, compared with 53% in 2020 and a slightly higher 42% in 2018.
With early vote totals at 37,919 before the noon Monday deadline out of the 369,206 total registered voters in the county, or about 11%, according to the Lake County Board of Elections, the numbers looked on par with 2018, and that was great, he said. Then Election
Day blew most hopes away.
“It was a beautiful day outside, so conceivably, there was no reason for turnout to be as bad as it was,” Wieser said. “It was such a disappointment.”
Except there was, even though Wieser had hoped against hope it wouldn’t take hold like it did: Indiana’s GOP candidates monetarily benefited from the hotly contested District 1 U.S. Congressional race between incumbent victor Frank J. Mrvan and opponent Jennifer-Ruth
Green. With all that money pouring in from the state and national fronts, several GOP candidates bought all the negative advertising their hearts desired, and that seems to have turned off many voters.
“You never want to think it will, but negative campaigning does keep people from wanting to vote,” Wieser said. “I can’t tell you how many people said to me that why should they vote, because everyone’s terrible.”
Part of that negative campaigning came from inside the party, when Democratic Lake County Councilmen Dave Hamm, Ted Bilski and outgoing Councilman Al Menchaca signed a letter endorsing Indiana Senator-elect Dan Dernulc, which Dernulc in turn used in a campaign mailer against State Senator Michael Griffin, D-Highland. Hamm said that he’s happy for his colleague that
he was elected but “doesn’t condone” any sort of lying that Dernulc may have done during his campaign.
“I’m not in his district, so I didn’t get the literature, but I do not support lying,” Hamm said. “In my dealings with Dan on the council, he’s never lied, and I thought he was deserving of a look. That’s it. It was nothing against (Griffin).”
Bilski for his part said that he appreciates that the elections are over and that Griffin was a “great candidate and a smart man “— his son even campaigned for Griffin — but he himself had a great working relationship with Dernulc, and that’s why he signed the letter, even though he suspected it would be used in campaign literature. As a result, Bilski will resign his precinct post, he confirmed.
“I feel that my chairman (Wieser) has made it clear he no longer trusts the way I make decisions, so if they’d prefer me to submit my resignation, I will.” he said. “I think it’s making a mountain out of a molehill, but all we have is honor and integrity. Time to move on.”
And it wasn’t that the Democrats didn’t have support, Wieser said, as this year, Democratic candidates received more support — both cash and in-kind — from the Indiana Democratic Party than they’ve seen in a long time. Much of it went to the Mrvan race, Wieser said, as the party knew it had to, but there was still support.
Going forward, Wieser said the party has to look at two things — one of which is its social media strategy, which Republicans dominated. He admitted social media isn’t something to which he’s accustomed, but it clearly made a huge difference, so he’ll be working to improve the party’s efforts on that front, he said.
As far as getting younger people involved in the party, he said there were several younger candidates this go-around; as well, Munster’s Town Party has made great strides in that regard, so it’ll look to them to help guide other town parties. But mostly, the party needs money, so he’ll be gathering party stalwarts together to figure out how to revamp their fundraising efforts sooner rather than later, he said.
But some of the “old ways,” like candidates donating monetarily to other candidates, goes a long way, and after this cycle, he hopes more realize that.
“There are some candidates who feel the party should just give to them without giving back, and that’s not the way it works,” he said.