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Activist group Faith in Indiana has begun a statewide push to fill precinct chairs — including in St. Joseph County.
Precinct chairs are the most grassroots level of a political party. They’re typically in charge of drumming up party support and increasing voter turnout in their neighborhoods.
It’s an elected position, but if nobody runs, the party appoints someone to fill in — and people usually don’t run.
Act Indiana, the political arm of Faith in Indiana, is looking to change that.
“We wanted to let people know that this was a position that was available for them to file,” organizer Emily McClements said. “And that then, we would be helping them and training them and working together with them to connect with their neighbors… and to champion our family-first agenda, which includes things like reducing gun violence, affordable housing and homelesness.”
McClements said Act Indiana has been working to identify and encourage candidates within each district to run for precinct chair.
Joseph Karanja was one of those people. He said he wants to bring more people into the democratic process in his precinct, which covers part of South Bend’s near west side.
“Many people are not there, at the table,” he said. “They cannot make the decisions at the council, they cannot be in the legislature, but they can vote. That happens at the precinct level — everything happens there.”
Act Indiana plans to hold training sessions later this year to teach potential candidates how to canvass and register voters.
The St. Joseph County chapter of Faith in Indiana is a financial supporter of WVPE.
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo.
