It’s a Tuesday morning in late September at the Kroger on Bloomington’s north side. Monroe County resident Damon Davidson has a lot on his mind, but voting is not on the list.
“I'm just not a political type person,” Davidson said. “It doesn't matter if my vote counts or not. To me, it just it doesn't matter who gets in there.”
He is among the 40 percent of eligible Hoosier voters who didn’t participate in the 2024 general election.
“There's nothing we can – I mean, I can't change it,” Davidson said. “So it's whatever they set up, that's what I got to deal with.”
This year is a midterm election. During the last midterms, over 60 percent of Indiana voters abstained – more than any other state except West Virginia.
That’s no coincidence said Laura Merrifield Wilson, Professor of Political Science at University of Indianapolis.
“Part of it would be behavioral and part of it's institutional, but Indiana does have very low voter turnout,” Wilson said.
The United States underperforms in elections compared to other high-income countries, but participation varies a lot by state. Wilson said structural issues keep the vote low in Indiana: no voting by mail, registration ending 29 days before an election and polls only open from six in the morning to six at night.
“It's not just it makes it hard to vote, there's also the question of why vote,” she said. “Do you really feel like you're making a difference? Do you really feel like your voice is being heard? And because, by and large, the elections are not competitive in Indiana general elections, many Hoosier voters say no.”
Voters here have consistently favored Republicans for state offices and the presidency, often by landslide margins.
Debora Shaw, Spokesperson for League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County, said that might discourage voters of both parties.
“What we call voter apathy might be just voters realizing that their vote doesn't have the impact it might in a more competitive state,” Shaw said.
The League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County has pushed for greater participation since its origins as a suffragist group in 1913. A big part of Shaw’s work is education, for informed voters and those who choose not to participate.
“My personal response is to say yes, it does matter. It's a way of being heard, and it's a way of changing things if you don't like what we have right now,” she said.
Shaw added there are also compelling reasons why someone might choose not to.
“It may be that actually working an extra shift or making sure that you have a job that will put food on the table or taking care of a sick relative or whatever is more important than doing your civic duty,” she said.
Reaching disengaged voters is significantly more difficult than connecting with citizens who are already involved. Travis Trawick is CEO of FullPAC, a company that provides outreach tools to political campaigns. Which voters those candidates choose to target is their own choice.
“Campaigns don't necessarily want to spend money on voters that might not participate,” Trawick said. “They definitely don't get the attention that that they need.”
In the end, it comes down to a numbers problem.
“You have your voter propensity score, which different models calculate that differently, but it's all going to be dependent on how likely that person is to participate in the election,” Trawick said. “A lot of campaigns are only targeting 70 or 80% and above.”
Companies like FullPAC are experimenting with other types of data to tailor messaging based on an individual’s priorities, whether it’s support for police funding or concern over gas prices.
“It’s all about layered messaging and creating that message that that resonates with each voter,” Trawick said.
Although Indiana will likely once again trail high participation states such as Maine and Oregon, there’s reason to believe turnout here will be higher than 2022. Although he’s not up for reelection, pollsters say voters this year see the election as a referendum on President Donald Trump.
Wilson said the first highly impactful years of his second term will likely inspire more voters – some with excitement, others with rage.
“This does feel like an election where people are very engaged, people are paying a lot of attention,” she said. “That's where I think it's going to buck the trend of typically low voter turnout in Indiana. I suspect 2026 will be an exception to that rule.”
