By Marilyn Odendahl for The Indiana Citizen.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Indiana Citizen-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration.

Not sure you have time to vote?

IN Tech for Progress, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization based in Indianapolis, has updated its app - Indianavotetimes.org - to help you find the shortest wait time to cast your ballot so you can still do whatever else you need to do that day. The app, currently listing information for only Marion, Boone and Vigo counties, shows each voting center in those counties and then gives the estimated time Hoosiers will have to wait in line to get to the check-in table, where they sign the poll book and get their ballot.

Roger Deetz, CEO and founder of IN Tech for Progress, said the hope is that the app will help encourage more people to vote and improve Indiana's poor voter turnout rate. The state has been falling in voter participation compared to other states, dropping from 38^th place in the 2012 presidential election to 46^th in 2020, according to the 2023 Indiana Civic Health Index.

"As Indiana technology workers, we're passionate about a thriving democracy, and if we can give back to the community to help sort of improve Indiana's civic engagement ... (we) were interested in doing that," Deetz said.

IN Tech for Progress led the development of the updated app with help from 10 to 12 volunteers who contributed over the course of 2024. The app runs on IN Tech for Progress systems.

The voting times app is accessible from any web browser, whether on a desktop or mobile device. Voters can visit the website, select one of the three available counties and then see the voting centers that are open, when they will close and how long the wait times are for each location.

Since Marion, Boone and Vigo counties use vote centers, Deetz said, voters can use the app to determine which voting site is best for them by seeing where the sites are located and how long the wait times are.

Although the app was launched Oct. 8, the day early voting began in Indiana, the voting sites are showing "wait time not reported" because little or no data has been entered. However, voters can bolster the app's pool of data by tapping the "Check In" button at the bottom of the screen and inputting real-time information. Once they have accessed the app, voters are asked two questions - how many people are standing in line ahead of you and how many people are behind you - and the answers are put through an algorithm, which calculates the wait time.

"We're hoping folks, just out of civic spirit, will check in and kind of share their experience," Deetz said.

Deetz emphasized IN Tech does not collect, share or sell any data on individual voters who use the app. In the past, the nonprofit provided aggregated data to some legislators who had questions about vote centers, which he sees as helping to achieve the app's mission.

IN Tech's goal is to not only provide a "great tool just for citizens to help them successfully vote," Deetz said, but also to help inform public policy. If voters have to wait in long lines, he added, perhaps the aggregated data from the app can offer some insight for conversations about the number and locations of voting centers.

"People, in my view, shouldn't have to wait very long to vote," Deetz said.

The pastrami on rye test

The app was initially developed and introduced for the November 2020 election, when the presidential contest between Republican incumbent Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden was anticipated to attract more voters than usual.

In that first year, the app gave wait times for only Marion County vote centers and relied on about 100 volunteers stationed at polling sites to input the data about the number of people waiting in line, Deetz said. About 60,000 voters in Indianapolis used the app during the 2020 election, he said, which signaled a demand for wait-time information.

However, the tech team realized the use of volunteers would not be scalable as they included more counties, Deetz said. So, the developers rebuilt the internal machinery to use crowdsourced submissions.

A version "halfway in between" using wait time info from both volunteers and voters was offered for the 2022 November mid-term election, Deetz said. The "pathetic turnout" for the election in Indiana, he said, did not yield much insight for the tech team, because so few voters showed up at the polls and used the app.

Meeting in January 2024, the tech crew sketched a project plan and then began completely redesigning the 2020 app, Deetz said. The team made a handful of fixes and small improvements, so the app would be more functional for voters in more counties.

"We took a lot of inspiration from the design of that first app," Deetz said. "We learned what worked well and what didn't and what was kind of hard for us to manage, and we tried to incorporate that into the design for the new 2024 version."

During the development phase, the team dispatched a volunteer to Shapiro's Delicatessen, south of downtown Indianapolis, to test the accuracy of the algorithm that is used to crunch the crowdsourced data. The volunteer observed the lunch line and inputted the data into the app, which was then run through the algorithm to learn how long diners would have to wait to get their sandwiches.

"It worked out really well," Deetz said of the deli test.

Boone and Vigo counties were selected for the expansion because they have vote centers, Deetz said. Also, because Vigo is home to Indiana State University and Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, IN Tech is hoping students will provide a lot of crowdsourced data.

IN Tech aims to have the app collecting and dispensing voting wait times for every Indiana county by either the 2026 mid-term or the 2028 general election, Deetz said.

As early voting hours expand and voting centers open on Saturday, Deetz expects more wait-time information will be entered and the app will become more useful to voters. Also Deetz said he is hopeful voter turnout will increase.

"We want to make Indiana a great place to live and work and we believe part of that means political change," Deetz said, adding IN Tech is not affiliated with any political party or any candidate running for office. "Just having (tech) folks that are willing to do some extra work, nights and weekends, and being civically inspired, I think that's a great indicator that there is a community here willing to work towards that vision for Indiana."


Marilyn Odendahl wrote this article for The Indiana Citizen.


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The Ohio Democratic Party is ramping up to get more people thinking about running for statewide offices.

The goal is to boost representation in upcoming elections because Democrats have noted too often, Republican candidates in Ohio run unopposed. The recruitment program is part of a national campaign led by the group Contest Every Race.

Katie Seewer, press secretary for the Ohio Democratic Party, pointed out Ohio has thousands of local offices on the ballot. She said they have identified suburbs of major cities and rural areas as ideal spots for future contenders.

"Once they're interested, we connect them with our county parties. We can get resources there," Seewer explained. "Then, we also provide training and teach folks how to get on the ballot, how to raise money, all that stuff that you need to know to run a campaign."

The recruitment program includes text messaging infrastructure, coaching calls and meetings to organize and mobilize. Seewer argued finding candidates in every Ohio county who reflect their local communities is key to widespread voter representation. She added more than 200 people have reached out so far to express an interest since recruitment efforts began.

Just under 72% of Ohio's registered voters cast their ballot in last year's presidential election. The outcome was not what Democrats had hoped for, although Vice President Kamala Harris' short but impactful presidential campaign has inspired more women to consider running for office nationwide.

Seewer emphasized the recruitment efforts are open to anyone passionate about making change in their communities but acknowledged some women may need a nudge.

"When we do these kinds of efforts to directly recruit folks, there are studies out there that show women need to be directly asked, where guys just think, 'Hey, I could do that,'" Seewer stressed. "When we're directly asking folks, it's definitely going to lead to more women in politics and running in these races."

The recruitment program is casting a wide net for candidates to fill more than 6,000 offices, including village and city council members, school board members and other local positions. The deadline to file for the next election is Feb. 5.


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With just a few days before President Joe Biden leaves office, more than 140 nonprofits are urging him to act on the Equal Rights Amendment. Passed by Congress in 1972 and ratified by 38 states by 2020, the ERA ensures constitutional gender equality.

Amy Widestrom, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, said it prohibits discrimination based on sex, empowers Congress to enforce it, and takes effect two years after ratification.

"What we're really advocating for is that because we've reached the three-quarters threshold of the states, that the archivist published the amendment. It's met the constitutional requirements to become an amendment of the United States Constitution," she explained.

Widestrom pointed out some people argue the ERA missed its congressional deadline, but legal scholars say the Constitution doesn't allow or require such deadlines for amendments. They point to the 27th Amendment, introduced with the Bill of Rights and ratified centuries later, as proof deadlines are not binding.

Widestrom said the Constitution currently lacks a provision guaranteeing equal protection based on sex.

"Right now we rely on the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law, but it does not specify by sex. And there is a sitting Supreme Court justice that has said that he believes that the Constitution allows for sex discrimination. So it would be an important addition to the Constitution," she continued.

Widestrom noted that during Donald Trump's first presidency, he directed the archivist not to publish the ERA, creating a less supportive environment. With Biden rescinding that directive, she believes this is the best chance for ratification. She emphasized the importance of Pennsylvanians working with Congress and the White House to explore the best options for the ERA.

A proposal to make Wisconsin's strict Voter ID law a constitutional amendment passed Wisconsin's Republican-controlled Assembly on Tuesday.

Voters will see the proposal on the April 1 ballot. If approved, the state constitution would be amended, which would make the change much harder to repeal in the future. Proponents insist stricter ID requirements help to prevent voter fraud.

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, and other opponents said they also provide a partisan advantage for Republicans.

"All it does is, it reduces the opportunity for certain segments of the population to be able to vote," Heck explained. "It doesn't do anything about preventing fraud, and it's just a voter suppression method."

Heck believes the measure will attract more conservatives to the polls in April. And even if voters reject the idea of changing the constitution, the state's voter ID requirement, which is already among the strictest in the country, would remain.

The state's voter ID law has been long debated for its prohibitive requirements. Wisconsin allows seven forms of identification to be presented at the polls but Heck pointed out they have to meet particular requirements.

"These are forms of ID that, although they seem on the surface to make some sense, they're very difficult for some segments of the population to obtain," Heck emphasized.

Heck added rushing to put the requirements in the state constitution is strategic, given the state Supreme Court justice ballot the measure will share. Over more than 40 years, the conservative Heritage Foundation lists only 68 cases of voter fraud in Wisconsin.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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