Indiana’s Secretary of State is hoping that allowing Hoosiers to be able to text a request to register to vote will increase voter participation in the state.  IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann explains.

If you text the word “Indiana” to 2VOTE – that’s 28683 – the Secretary of State’s office will send you a link to indianavoters.com, where you can register to vote.

The website itself isn’t new – nor is being able to register to vote from your phone.  Indiana has had a mobile phone app since 2016 election that allows users to register to vote online.

In announcing text-to-register services, Secretary of State Connie Lawson pointed to young voters that expect such flexibility in ways to register.

Once Hoosiers do register, the next task is getting them to the polls to actually vote.  Indiana’s record at that is low.

In 2016’s contentious presidential election, 58 percent of registered Hoosiers voted.  But in 2014’s midterm election, only 30 percent of voters turned out in Indiana.  According to PBS, that put Indiana on a list of states with the worst voter turnout.

And in 2015’s mayoral elections, the state recorded only a 20 percent voter participation rate.

Indiana’s next election is the May 8 primary.