The County Line
In 48 days Noblesville voters will essentially select the next mayor of what is now Indiana’s 12th largest city. It doesn’t seem possible that only a generation ago Noblesville was a typical county seat city of only 8,000.
Now, with a population estimated at 60,000, there is added importance when choosing a new administration. The growth and development is dynamic, and certainly qualified leadership is needed to guide that kind of growth.
Do voters understand the importance of the coming primary election on May 7? You would like to think so, but participation in local primaries is notoriously light. Sometimes no more than 20 percent of the eligible voters show up on Election Day.
Primary elections are so important in Hamilton County because the winner of a Republican primary is almost certain to be elected in the November general election.
To date, there has been no indication that Democrats will field candidates for the highest office in any of the county’s four cities. And, if they do, chances are slim they can win. Noblesville elected only two Democratic mayors in the 20th century and the other communities have elected none.
It seems that longtime residents tend to appreciate the importance of the primary, but newer citizens often do not understand the situation and skip the opportunity to voice their opinion in the city’s leadership.
Noblesville has four GOP mayoral candidates from which to choose. That offers a wide selection for voters. The four are: Vincent Alan Baker, Mike Corbett, Christopher Jensen and Julia Church Kozicki.
Besides mayor, city council candidates and candidates for city clerk and city judge are also on the ballot. And the same offices are at stake in Carmel, Fishers and Westfield, except there is no judge in Westfield.
Most of these candidates will do everything they can to get voters to the polls on primary election day. Hopefully they will be successful in at least getting a larger than average number of folks to participate because in Hamilton County it is likely THE election.