I wanted to give you just some basic voting data for Indiana leading into the 2024 General Election. I focused on general elections in presidential years only. I compiled data for 2012, 2016, and 2020.
First, let’s take a look at total registered voters vs actual voter turnout over the past three presidential election cycles.
This is, actually, the most interesting set of data, in my opinion.
In 2012, the population of the Hoosier state was around 6,538,989 people. In 2020, the population was around 6,789,098 people. That’s a population increase of 3.82%. Yet, the number of registered voters increased by 4.31% between 2012 and 2020 with a decrease of 1.61% between 2016 and 2020. There has been a prolonged battle to cure Indiana’s voter rolls by purging registered voters who are no longer legal voters for various reasons.
There have been various attempts to smear Indiana’s attempts to ensure registered voters are, actually, legal voters. The media reported that between 2012 and 2014, Indiana removed 22.4% of its voting population. Yet, the number of registered voters from 2012 to 2016 increased over 6%. For the years in question, where Indiana allegedly removed over 22% of voters, the number of registered voters actually increased 0.83%. Indiana’s attempts to ensure voting integrity have been fought every step of the way by activists.
In 2020, the Center For Public Integrity alleged that “Indiana has made it harder for people to vote.” Well, if that’s the case, why are more people voting? Turnout has continually increased for the main elections. No, looking at primaries and municipal elections where there’s general apathy doesn’t count.
Now onto how voters vote …
As you can see in the chart, since 2012, total voter turnout for presidential year general elections have increased. Hard to do in a state where the liberal activists say Indiana is making it “harder for people to vote.”
Another statistic we see is the ever-decreasing number of people who vote in person and the increasing number who vote absentee. We had COVID in 2020 but the numbers were moving away from voting in person to absentee long before COVID.
The numbers are somewhat staggering.
Absentee voting from 2012 to 2020 increased by over 216%. While in-person voting decreased by over 42%.
In 2014, Pew Research showed Republicans with a 5-point advantage over Democrats in Indiana.
Since 2012, Republican presidential candidates have received higher percentages of votes than Democrats. Part of that could be the Mike Pence factor as the Vice Presidential candidate.
Indiana doesn’t register voters by party affiliation so getting unbiased numbers is difficult. So trends in that regard are hard to see.
More people are moving to Indiana than away from it. Many are from blue states. Republicans would like you to believe they are mostly Republicans fleeing Democrat policies, but Indiana doesn’t have a reputation as a refuge for conservatives. Texas and Florida do, but Indiana does not.
2024 will be an interesting year to evaluate for years to come. The unique circumstances surrounding Trump/Biden 2.0 could provide for temporary anomalies in election patterns or could completely reset the electorate in a way previously unimaginable.
Ah, the primaries are behind us. Now onto the general election.
Primaries are always ugly affairs. The inexperienced always take them too seriously. It’s like a family battle royale at Thanksgiving. Most of the time, fences are mended. Sometimes they aren’t. Rarely do general elections, outside of the presidency, reach the climax of insanity you see in primary elections. Especially in smaller local races.
Well, that’s about to change.
St. Joseph County Council District I is the hotbed of attention in Michiana. The primary was ugly for Republicans. For such a small race, it was all a bit out of proportion. However, what if I told you the general election race for District I was even MORE interesting?
Tami Springer has worked for the University of Notre Dame for 42 years. She’s raised 7 children and “coordinated our annual college food drive for 19 years in a row for the St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry. I served on the Board of the South Bend League of Women Voters and I was President of the Staff Advisory Council at Notre Dame.”
Pretty vanilla political stuff. But …
She’s also the power of attorney for Joe Freakin Exotic, the Tiger King!
Yes, this guy:
The ‘that B!tc# Carole Baskin!’ guy.
Yeah, and you thought the District I primary was spicy.
In July, 2022, she went on the I Helped Make That podcast (#19) to talk about her journey getting to know the Tiger King and becoming his power of attorney.
In the podcast, she tells you how she became prison pen pals with Joe Exotic after watching the show. She thought he was innocent, was set up, and was mad he was in prison. After the fourth letter, Joe Exotic started emailing her. A few months later they started speaking on the phone. Eventually, Joe Exotic wanted an online store to cash in on his new fame. He also wanted to change his power of attorney to someone ‘he could trust.’ That person was Tami Springer. On the podcast, she says they talk on the phone every day. She became his power of attorney after season 2 of Tiger King.
An Indiana University journalism professor said that Indiana will work its way into every story. Happy, sad, good, bad. There is a Hoosier connection. Probably not all the time, but it does seem to come up that way.
Here’s the next one: “Tiger King.” Yes, that one. Tami Springer, of Osceola, manages the website store for Joe Exotic and is his executive assistant and power or attorney. “No one believes me. They think I’m crazy,” she said. It all started when she began to write to him.
South Bend Tribune
Just last year she helped Joe Exotic in a public feud with Florida Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis.
She doesn’t seem to mention this on her campaign site. I guess taking over as power of attorney for an ‘innocent’ man to help get him out of prison isn’t campaign-worthy in St. Joseph County.
Tiger King was good fun and very entertaining. I still use the memes from that show regularly. Many might think it’s a far cry from engaging in the lore of the show to actually becoming pen pals and taking over as power of attorney for a guy sitting in prison. Especially considering what his convictions are for. Let alone his other accusations of grooming young boys.
Also, Joe Exotic is accused of being pretty racist.
Accusations have been made that Tami Springer my be defrauding Tiger Kingfans.
Please keep in mind, I have no way of knowing if this is true or not. The whole realm of Joe Exotic stuff is shady as hell.
There are several more accusations online about Tami Springer and potential fraud. I’m looking into it further. There’s even reports that Joe Exotic himself isn’t happy with how Tami Springer always seems to be looking for media attention.
Stay tuned to this one folks. Make sure you sign up for my free newsletter.
