George Wolfe: How to heal our democracy

George Wolfe | The Star Press

This year, I had the honor of representing the Indiana Green Party as their candidate for Secretary of State. I chose to ally myself with the Green Party because I personally resonate with its core values of grassroots democracy, ecological wisdom, social justice and nonviolence.

I have traveled around the state over the past ten months meeting many thoughtful and concerned citizens, people of all colors and creeds, from many ethnic backgrounds and economic levels. Campaigning has taught me the value of personal connection, and how everyone is important in our great country. It has also revealed how tired people are of the offensive, irresponsible and adversarial rhetoric coming from our politicians. Americans want candidates to focus on issues and innovative solutions, and work together to move our state and country forward toward greater economic and social equality.

What follows is a list of recommendations I have gleaned from listening to Hoosier voters which, if put in place, would go far to restoring public trust and healing the deep wounds in our democracy.

1. Make election day a statewide holiday, requiring businesses to give employees at least three hours off on election day to get to the polls. Continue with, and expand, early voting opportunities.

2. Allow for same-day voter registration as opposed to requiring citizens to register 29 days in advance as is now the case in Indiana. States with the highest voter turnout (such as Minnesota with 73 percent) have same-day registration. With the technology we have today, same-day registration is feasible and without risk of voter fraud.

3. End partisan gerrymandering by establishing a citizens nonpartisan redistricting commission. Competitive districts are good for our democracy. Yet both major parties have been guilty of gerrymandering. Indiana citizens must continue to demand that both Democrat and Republican lawmakers bring an end to this partisan political corruption.

4. Stop the discriminatory purging of names from the voter rolls and only remove names if there is documentation that an individual is deceased or has moved out of state.

5. Transition Indiana toward a simpler, much less expensive, more reliable and secure paper ballot system such as has been used in the state of Oregon. This year, the current Secretary of State, Connie Lawson, spent $7.6 million on election security. Yet there are still ongoing concerns about how vulnerable our electronic system is to machine failure and foreign intrusion. The cost of security could be reduced by 75 percent if we switched to a vote-by-mail paper ballot system.

6. Institute Ranked Choice Voting (as has been adopted in the state of Maine) when there are more than two candidates running for a particular office. Ranked Choice Voting eliminates the "spoiler effort" and always results in a majority winner.

7. Encourage more independent candidates to run for office by making ballot access laws equal to the current access requirements for Republicans and Democrats. This past election cycle, an independent or third-party candidate running for a statewide office had to get 27,699 signatures on a petition to be granted ballot access, whereas a Democrat or a Republican only needed 4,500. More candidates contributing to the political conversation is healthy for our democracy.

8. We need to get big money out of politics by limiting personal and corporate campaign contributions. Unlimited donations from corporations and special interest groups have a corrupting influence on lawmakers and are a source of public distrust toward politicians. As a Green Party candidate, I refused to take donations from corporations, political action committees or special interest groups. Campaigns should be centered around issues and ideas, not on who has the most money.

Finally, as voters become more aware and informed about these issues, we can restore to Indiana and our nation an inclusive democracy that represents all citizens regardless of economic class, ethnicity, religion, age, gender or sexual orientation.

George Wolfe was the 2018 Green Party write-in candidate for the office of Secretary of State in Indiana and was endorsed by the grassroots organization “92 Counties Strategies” and by the Progressive Independent Party. He is the former director of the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, is a trained mediator and the author of "The Spiritual Power of Nonviolence: Interfaith Understanding for a Future without War."