Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

FULTON — Grass roots and getting out the vote were among the themes at the annual Fulton County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner Saturday, Sept. 14.

Guest speakers included Secretary of State Diago Morales, Republican Lt. Gov. candidate Micah Beckwith, Indiana Speaker of the House Todd Huston and Republican State Chairman Randy Head.

“Voter complacency in Indiana is the biggest threat that we are facing right now,” said Head, keynote speaker. “We have a lot of counties, like Fulton County, where we have a success problem and the Republican party has done so well, Democrats no longer bother to run. That’s wonderful, except we have a lot of people saying well Trump is going to win, Braun’s going to win, my vote isn’t going to matter. It’s all going to be OK, somebody else is going to take care of it.”

He related several election cases from last year in nearby counties where Republicans stayed home because of complacency and the Democrats won the race or in some cases the majority. “That’s because we said someone else will take care of it. We can’t wait on other people to take care of it. We are the other people. We want Mike Braun to win. we want Todd Rokita to win, we want them to win big. We want to send them message we want to give them a mandate and they need your help. We need your help to get out and vote. …”

He announced several efforts by the state party to get people back voting.

Permanent staff have been hired for every district to organize walking and door knocking and talking to people who vote Republican but don’t always vote. That morning an effort was organized to knock on 1,000 doors in Fulton. “We’ve knocked on over 80,000 doors across Indiana,” Head said. “We’re going to keep going. We’re going to follow that up with direct mail … people who will vote Republican if we can turn them out. We want to call them. We want to text them. We want to use digital advertising, use every media available to us to have a massive advertising campaign … If we turn them out, we’re going to win big. If we fail to do that we’re going to risk races awful lot closer.”

He stated the party is going to try to get more people to vote absentee, by doing that “we going to print out absentee applications and send them potentially to thousands of Hoosiers and if a Republican pulls an absentee ballot, we’re going call them and talk to them … if you vote absentee or vote early that’s beautiful because of you wake up on election day and you have a family emergency or something important happen you didn’t expect, your vote’s already done,.You don’t have to go wait in line.”

Head announced a couple of contests related to phone banking. Lists of phone number to call will be given to individuals to call from the comforts of their homes. Cash prizes will be given to Indiana Federation of Republican Women’s clubs, counties and districts that make the most calls between now and election day.

The election integrity project is another effort by the state party. An attorney will be placed in each county who knows election laws to answer questions and handle any issues that come up.

Prior to Heads keynote address, Indiana Speaker of the House Todd Huston had also expressed the importance of the upcoming election. “We’re coming into an election season that really, really matters and it’s super challenging … in a place like Fulton county, you don’t have a single Democrat on the ballot at the county level. A lot of people are going say why do I need to vote … I’m here to tell you tonight you can’t take anything for granted, not one thing for granted …
“Indiana has been on a roll … economy activity taking place, new leadership at the city level, … be whatever you want to be right now in this county because of all the great things taking place in this county and around you. Because we do things that matter, we pass budgets that we spend less than what we take in. We clearly cut taxes … we will cut taxes again next year. We provided more school choice than any other state in the country, we made more investments … we have the No. 1 rated infrastructure plan …”

He noted how other states are five years behind Indiana in election laws. “We’re humble … we deliver where it matters … one mishap can get us in the position in which we don’t have that opportunity,” Huston said.

He stressed how crucial it is to rally around the Republican candidates and like Head stated, complacency is the number one challenge and there is too much at stake. He encouraged people to talk to family, friends to make sure they vote and to vote early. “There’s more of us than there are of them,” he said.

He said people were there that evening to build enthusiasm. He stated he would put Indiana up against any state in America right now. “But we’ve got to be better about … not being divisive and not saying anything that would discourage someone into coming to be a part of the party … we want people to come. We want people to share … at the end of the day, we’re going to make Indiana, we’re going to make Fulton County, we’re going to make our state a much, much better place.”

He noted while Regan and Lincoln were inspiring to the party, the party needs to look at the future. “We have a spectacular future. I would compare it to any state in the country. We need the party to be great. … Now is not the time to sit back … we need to do our part. Let’s kill it in November.”

Beckwith briefly spoke about the governor’s race and noted how critical grass roots is in getting out the vote “getting out and working hard,” voting Republican but not just for Republican sake but those Republican principal values that are good true constitutional values.

Beckwith noted he and gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun have been traveling the state. Braun is not holding back any punches, and Braun’s great leadership will bring exactly the leadership “we need in Indiana. Bold leadership, unafraid leadership, leadership that will give the legislators cover …” said Beckwith.

He said the more he sees of Braun operating the more he thinks he is going to be a Ron DeSantos for Indiana and will put Indiana on the map for being a bold conservative state.

Talking about himself, Beckwith noted he has spent his life working with student, being a pastor and small business owner.

As an educator, he wants to help the state party educate the average Republican voter on what a delegate, precinct committeeman does. “One of the joys for me the last year has been teaching people about the delegate process and you’d be shocked at how many people, who have been voting Republican their whole life, had no idea what a delegate is, or what what a PC or vice PC is … teaching education is a big part of what I love to do, I can’t wait for the next 4-8 years to traveling around … helping you educate … Republican voters, making them excited and stewarding this amazing Republic that God has given us. It’s a republic … I’m a constitutional literacy teacher so don’t ever call it a democracy around me, you’ll get a lecture for 30 minutes. I’m here to serve.”

Morales spoke of his work to provide a free, secure and safe election. He recalled coming to Fulton County with a big check for election equipment and listening to what is needed in each county. The first year in office he visited all 92 counties in six

months. This year he has visited all 92 counties in three months and has awarded $3 million in election improvement grants. “My job is to allow you to have a free, fair and safe election.”

He also spoke of his work with legislatures for a secure election and HB 1264, the need for poll workers and sending hundreds of letters to federal agencies reminding them not to get involved in Indiana’s election. He also testified before a small business committee telling them that Indiana knows how to run their elections and to “go pound sand somewhere.”

He stated his job is to protect Hoosier investors as well and the business division of his office is one of the best in the nation.

The evening also included a time to remember party members who have passed away including Kathy Siders.

The evening ended with the announcing of the four winners of a quarter-side of beef and winners of 20 items raffled off.

Mike Canada, county chair, presided over the evening, and recognized the various city, county and township elected officials present along with District representatives and party officials from other counties. He also asked all precinct chairs and vice chairs to stand and be recognized.

Canada also recognized the Lincoln Day committee and their efforts for the evening.

The meal was provided by the Log House, Argos, with appetizers sponsored by Congressman Rudy Yakym.