Indiana has historically ranked very low among the 50 states in voter turnout during primary elections, but that might not be the case this year.
Indiana is expected to be a big player in both the Democratic and Republican presidential races.
Andy Downs from the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics says turnout for this year’s primary could be record-setting, or very close to it. And while Indiana is receiving a wealth of unexpected national attention, it’s not unprecedented.
“People are mentioning 1976 on the Republican side," Downs says. "That’s the year Reagan took on incumbent President Ford, and Reagan won Indiana that year, that was a pretty exciting year in the state...and obviously, 2008 was an exciting year in the state.”
But if Indiana has had exciting primaries in the past, why are voters expected to come out in record or near-record numbers in 2016?
“In the end, we’ve really not had many opportunities where both the Republican and Democratic primaries mattered at the same time on the presidential level," says Downs.
Since April 20, presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have all made the rounds throughout the Hoosier State.
By midday Tuesday, voter turnout in Tippecanoe County (12, 380 people) already had surpassed the entire 2012 turnout (11, 738).
