As Election Day approaches — and with early voting underway — it’s tempting to let the presidential race dominate our attention. But it’s important to remember that our rights are at stake across all levels of government, from national offices to local races. 

Your vote will have a direct impact on who makes important decisions for you and your community. Up and down the ballot, Indiana voters will have the power to hold local leaders accountable and influence policy at every level of government.  

The ACLU of Indiana urges Hoosiers to become informed about what elected positions are on the ballot, and who is running. Being informed about how federal, state and municipal offices and positions impact your community is a key step to exercising your right to vote. 

You can view what races will be on your ballot here.  

Federal Races

U.S. Representatives & Senator 

These elected officials represent Indiana at the federal level, voting on legislation in Congress. U.S. House races take place every two years, and U.S. Senate elections every six years. All nine of Indiana’s U.S. House seats and one of two U.S. Senate seats are on the ballot this year. Find out which of Indiana’s Congressional Districts you live in.  

Indiana State-Level Races

Governor  

Indiana’s governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. They also hold the final authority on vetoing or signing laws passed by the Indiana General Assembly.  

Attorney General  

The Attorney General is the chief legal officer for Indiana. This position is responsible for enforcing Indiana’s laws and representing Indiana and state agencies before the state and federal courts. This position has broad authority to shape the state’s future policies and court precedent via litigation.  

Indiana Legislators 

This election, all 100 state House seats and half of Indiana’s 50 state Senate seats are on the ballot. These government officials draft legislation and vote on bills to became laws — including bills on abortion access, LGBTQ rights, free speech, criminal legal reform, and voting laws.

Each legislative session, the ACLU of Indiana keeps track of how state legislators vote on key issues impacting your civil rights and liberties. See how your representatives have voted in recent years: 

• 2024 Legislative Scorecard
• 2023 Legislative Scorecard 
• 2022 Special Legislative Scorecard on Abortion 
• 2022 Legislative Scorecard 

Indiana Supreme Court Judges 

Three out of Indiana’s five Supreme Court justices are up for retention on the ballot. Supreme Court justices review and interpret whether Indiana laws violate the state constitution. While these judges are appointed by the governor, voters decide whether to keep them in power. This election is a rare opportunity, as justices face retention only two full years after their initial appointment and then every ten years thereafter. 

Statewide Ballot Measure - Public Question #1 

There will be a public question on the ballot this year asking voters if they support amending the state constitution to remove Indiana’s Secretary of Education from the line of succession if Indiana’s governor and lieutenant governor could no longer serve. In 2020, a law was enacted that changed the Indiana Department of Education's leadership from an elected position to an appointed one. Now, lawmakers have put this ballot measure up for a public vote they say to avoid an unelected person landing in Indiana’s highest office.  

Municipal Elections

City and County Councilors 

Members of city and county councils make executive, legislative, and financial decisions for the city, town, or county they are elected to represent. Councils create or change local laws (known as ordinances), resolutions, orders, and motions. They are also in charge of local tax policy and appropriating funds for city or town operation, including police budgets. 

School Board Members

In Indiana, school boards are non-partisan positions and won’t be affiliated with a party on your ballot. Still, these positions can have a massive impact on school districts. These public officials manage budgets well into the millions of dollars, set district policies, conduct superintendent evaluation, and act as oversight into the districts’ programs. In recent years, there’s been a growth of elected school board officials pushing anti-LGBTQ+ measures and book censorship.

These are just some examples of what you might find on your ballot — to see which offices you’ll be voting on and see who’s running, visit IndianaVoters.com. 

Editor's note: a slightly different version of this blog ran in today’s Capital Chronicle. 

As of last Sunday, marriage equality has been the law in Indiana for 10 years. On October 6, 2014, almost a year before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the fundamental right to marry nationwide, a handful of cases, including one brought by the ACLU of Indiana, established that right in Indiana and Wisconsin. The most telling sign of how far culture has shifted as a result is the feeling most of us have that “it’s only been 10 years?” 

There are certain societal changes that take root so thoroughly that it’s hard to remember just how deeply people opposed them. Marriage equality is one of them.

It’s important to note that while the vast majority of people in the U.S. no longer fear legal rights for same-sex couples, the threat to those rights hasn’t gone away. As six U.S. Supreme Court justices proved in their unprincipled decision overturning Roe v Wade, even “settled” constitutional rights can be stripped away. But that risk looms over a country that has come a long way in a decade.

Today, Gallup polling shows that 69% of people in the United States support marriage equality. Ten years ago, only 55% did. And ten years before that, 42% of Americans were in support and 55% were opposed. That is a complete reversal in attitudes in two decades. I’ve seen the results of that shift in support in my own life. 

My husband and I were married two years ago. Since then, we’ve needed to interact with each other’s medical providers, dozens of people at the Department of Child Services as foster parents, and administrators and teachers at our son’s school and afterschool programs. And while it isn’t everyone’s experience around the state, we’ve yet to encounter even the slightest resistance to recognizing us as a family. As simple as this common dignity sounds in 2024, it felt almost unattainable when I came out as gay in 1992. During that time, politicians routinely attacked their gay, lesbian, and bisexual constituents in order to stoke support among their base. 

Unfortunately, the perceived electoral benefit certain politicians leveraged in the 1990s hasn’t diminished. It has just shifted to transgender and nonbinary people and their families. The routine nature of attacks from our statehouse on transgender Hoosiers is part of a nationally coordinated electoral strategy. It has resulted in a tragic reversal in the quality of life, access to health care, and safety for transgender people and their families in our state over the last five years. The fight against these laws is in full effect, but there have been several setbacks already. 

And disability rights advocates have helpfully expanded the understanding of marriage equality to include changing policies that economically penalize some people for getting married. Right now, federal law strips some individuals with disabilities of their Social Security benefits simply because they marry someone who isn’t disabled. The fight to change this law is an example of the ongoing evolution of marriage that needs to happen. 

The good news is that the last ten years of marriage equality in Indiana – and the years long fight for legal recognition that preceded it – clearly demonstrate that legal and societal change is possible. The ACLU of Indiana and our partners here and across the country work every day to push our states and nation to live up to our constitutional values. 

If you’re not already, you have a role to play as well. As you know, our state legislature is directly responsible for attacks on transgender Hoosiers. On November 5th, we’ll have a chance to retain or vote out many of the legislators who passed these harmful laws. Make sure your friends and family are aware.

And whoever your state Representative and Senator are after the election, reach out to them and let them know you want them to work to reverse state laws that cause harm to our transgender neighbors. You can also contact your Congressperson and Indiana’s U.S. Senators and urge them to back common-sense bills supporting Hoosiers with disabilities, like the Marriage Equality for Disabled Adults Act. 

The way forward in creating a state and a nation rooted in shared constitutional values is rarely linear and never easy. But it is possible.