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The following information is provided by Indiana State Senator for District 45 Chris Garten. He is the Majority Floor Leader in the state senate. He has served Clark County and portions of Floyd Co. since 2018.

With early voting starting in Indiana and Election Day just a few weeks away, it is important Hoosiers are prepared to vote.

Indiana law requires voters show a photo identification (ID) when they cast their ballots.

The ID must:

Display your photo;
Display your name;
Display an expiration date and be current or have expired after the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election;
Be issued by the state or federal government.

If you need to update your state-issued ID, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles will offer extended hours on Monday, Nov. 4, and Tuesday, Nov. 5.

You can find polling locations, see who is on your ballot and view any referendum questions online at IndianaVoters.com.

For more information on what Senate Republicans have done in recent years to ensure elections are secure and view tips on how to protect yourself from election-related scams, click here.

Public Question #1

When Hoosiers vote this year, they will see "Public Question #1" on their ballot.

This bipartisan measure would amend the Indiana Constitution to remove the State Superintendent of Public Instruction from the list of officeholders who could temporarily discharge the powers and duties of governor should the governor and lieutenant governor offices be vacant.

To learn more about Public Question #1 on this year's ballot, click here.

Senate Republicans Offering Paid Spring Internships

The Indiana Senate Republican Caucus is offering paid spring-semester internships in our communications, information technology, legal, legislative, page and policy offices during the 2025 session of the Indiana General Assembly.

Senate internships are full-time positions at the Statehouse in downtown Indianapolis that typically begin with a mandatory orientation in late December or early January and conclude at the end of the legislative session in April 2025.

For more information and to apply, click here.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners issued a county-wide burn ban at 11:45 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21.

The ban will remain in effect until further notice.

By Jerry Curry, Staff Writer

U.S. Congresswoman Erin Houchin, representing Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, visited Eastern High School in Pekin on Wednesday Oct.16.

She was greeted at the door by three seniors, Darren Roller, Sydney Kaelin, and Kaden Rickard.

Houchin spoke to a group of approximately 25 student council members and teaching staff about her career and educational background. The sponsors for the student council are teachers Kim Brown and Shelby Thomas.

“Government is everywhere,” was Houchin’s opening comment. She grew up in Scottsburg, the daughter of a dentist. Her father worked his way through school.

Although she did not have a goal to be in politics, she started as an intern in the state senate. She met her husband, Dustin Houchin, who also was an intern for the senate. He later got in to politics and became the Washington County Superior Court Judge.

After the internship, she took another political job that she hated, which eventually turned her against politics. She worked at this job for one year because she had a conviction to finish anything she started. Houchin then started a career in marketing.

Politics found her again when U.S. Senator Dan Coats called and offered her a job as regional director, which she accepted. Pregnancy complicated the situation, but she carried on.

Afterward, she was elected to the state senate and served for four years.

Houchin then ran and was elected to the U.S. Congress. She was the first female to serve in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District.

Presently, she is running for her second term. She has a passion to serve and get things done for people.

She said, “I like to look at life as a six-lane highway. I can chose other lanes.”

Houchin is a proud alumna of Indiana University in Bloomington and holds a degree in psychology. She also attended George Washington University and got a degree in political management.

In congress, Houchin serves on the House Financial Services, Education and Workforce, and Rules committees.

She and her family live in Salem.

Houchin was greeted by seniors (from left) Kaden Rickard, Darren Roller and Sydney Kaelin.

Eastern High School Student Council members and sponsors.

Houchin represents Indiana's 9th Congressional District.

Houchin was accompanied by her press secretary, Parker Armstrong.

The Houchin family.

The Washington County Republican Party candidates for this upcoming election season held a meet and greet event at H & R Bakery on October 17. The event garnered a great turnout full of energetic conversation revolving around problems, plans and policies.

Be sure to make it to the polls on November 5 to let your voice be heard!

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Photos by Nathaniel Smith.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is taking action to protect states’ authority to prohibit sex-change procedures from being performed on minors — co-leading a 22-state brief to the U.S. Supreme Court aimed at thwarting the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to override state laws.

“The Biden-Harris administration will stop at nothing to impose its radical transgender ideology on all Americans,” Attorney General Rokita said. “But Hoosiers elect state lawmakers to representtheir values, and the Indiana General Assembly has passed a law forbidding medical practitioners from performing surgery or administering drugs to children under 18 to ‘transition’ them to live as members of the opposite sex.”

In the amicus brief, the attorneys general support the State of Tennessee’s authority to enforce a law that — similar to Indiana’s — prohibits medical interventions before age 18 intended to alter boys’ or girls’ physical appearances so that they resemble members of the opposite sex.

“The Constitution leaves to states the right to make decisions about how best to protect children from unproven and risky interventions,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Here in Indiana, we have laws rooted in common sense, compassion and science.”

That lack of authority did not prevent the federal government from supporting a lawsuit against Tennessee that erroneously claims the Tennessee law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

“Nothing in passing the Fourteenth Amendment,” the amicus brief states,” remotely suggests that the Equal Protection Clause was meant to override the States’ traditional role in regulating medicine.”

Joining Attorney General Rokita in leading the amicus brief are the attorneys general of Arkansas and Kentucky.

“In our federalist system,” the brief further observes, “the States get to decide within their borders what interventions are available for boys and girls suffering from gender dysphoria. Tennessee gets to decide that using puberty blockers and hormones . . . is not sufficiently safe or beneficial —that long-term it will do more harm than good. No equal-protection challenge can change that.”