When Edwin Lewis Jones ran for a seat in the Indiana House of Representatives more than a decade ago, he would go door to door handing out campaign flyers as he trained for the 500 Festival half marathon.
There are two problems with that approach in 2020: The half marathon was canceled, and most people probably aren’t keen on opening the door for a stranger these days.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced candidates to adjust their campaign styles, since almost all forms of in-person events have had to be canceled or postponed. Restrictions are starting to loosen, but even a delayed primary couldn’t save traditional voter outreach.
Jones, a Democrat who is running in District 98, said he’s spent a lot of time on social media, which has been a difficult adjustment for a former lead singer who prefers face-to-face interaction.
Edwin Lewis Jones
He also hands out flyers at grocery stores and other essential businesses. People are still receptive to taking a piece of paper from another person, Jones said, as long as he’s wearing gloves and a face mask.
State Rep. John Bartlett, the Democratic incumbent for District 95 in the House of Representatives, said he also hasn’t been knocking on doors like he would normally do.
“I don’t think I have the virus, but I could knock on your door and engage with you and you cough or whatever and I get it,” he said. “Then I go to the next door, and I’m spreading the disease.”
Eugene Dooley is running against Bartlett to represent District 95. While the pandemic has kept him from campaigning door to door, he’s been using social media as a tool to reach more constituents.
“A lot of people are online now, and they use social media as a way to ‘get out of the house,’” Dooley said. “In my opinion, if people are not utilizing social media, they aren’t meeting their constituents.”
Denise Paul Hatch, a Democrat running for District 96, believes social media-based campaigning and vote-by-mail will be the norm even after the pandemic.
“This virus is going to stay with us,” Hatch said. “Until we get a vaccine, people won’t want to go or work at the polls, and this will become the new normal.”
District 96 incumbent Greg Porter, a Democrat, believes vote-by-mail is “favorable,” and is glad to see Indiana following in the footsteps of California and Oregon, where vote-by-mail is the norm.
State Rep. Robin Shackleford, a Democrat who currently occupies the District 98 seat, said the pandemic is taking up a lot of her time as an elected official — answering questions from constituents, starting a health disparities task force and so on — so campaigning has almost moved to the background.
State Rep. Robin Shackleford
“I have not had time to put out my signs yet,” Shackleford said. “I haven’t had time to make the calls I need to make.”
If the 2020 primary can’t be the sole focus of someone trying to keep their seat in the Indiana Legislature, it certainly isn’t a top priority for many of the people who will vote or have already voted.
State Rep. Cherrish Pryor, the Democratic incumbent for the House of Representatives in District 94, is unopposed in the primary and hasn’t had to worry much about an adjustment to campaigning — not yet anyway.
But she looks out at voters in Indiana, especially African Americans, and sees how all of this is probably overwhelming.
This a census year, there’s a pandemic, and now the primary is here.
State Rep. Cherrish Pryor
“It’s a lot of stuff all happening at one time,” Pryor said. “I think our community, once we get past this coronavirus, we’re gonna have to have some serious healing.”
If anything positive might come out of this election cycle, it could be that candidates were forced to get creative.
Even though Jones doesn’t prefer campaigning online, he knows he’s probably been able to reach more people that way. That’s important for a candidate who doesn’t have a campaign manager or communications manager.
State Sen. Jean Breaux, a Democrat running for reelection in District 34, moved her entire campaign online in response to the pandemic. She is in the process of creating a web series, via Zoom, where she plans on interviewing people around the city. She’s also using Facebook and Twitter to reach voters.
Shackleford hopes having a widespread vote-by-mail initiative will make it so there’s more momentum in the future behind increasing access to absentee voting by loosening the current restrictions.
State Sen. Jean Breaux
Bob Kern, a Democrat running in District 98, said the vote-by-mail option is more convenient for many voters, but comes with a major downside.
“I think it makes it easier to vote,” Kern said. “But then again, it makes it easier to commit voter fraud.”
There is no evidence that mail-in voting is more fraudulent than voting in person.
Kern said the state ought to consider online voting where the voter would be present on a screen so “virtual poll workers” would be able to match the person voting to their identification card.
However, Breaux — a staunch supporter of vote-by-mail — said she has found no evidence of an increase in voter fraud created by the practice. Instead, she said it makes it easier for marginalized voters to take part in democracy.
“Even outside of the pandemic, it makes much more sense,” Breaux said. “It’s easier, and there are fewer barriers and obstructions and hurdles that you have to jump through.”
Beyond 2020, public officials will need to have a plan in place for when it isn’t safe to gather crowds of people at voting sites.
Although voters in some states are already accustomed to voting by mail, Pryor thinks this will be a good test run for Indiana to expand mail-in voting.
“I don’t think people need to be putting their lives on the line to vote,” she said.
Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick. Contact staff writer Breanna Cooper at 317-762-7848. Follow her on Twitter @BreannaNCooper.
Members of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus spoke at a lunch event in 2019. (Photo/Tyler Fenwick)
