I ran for Indiana Secretary of State in 2022 seeking office as a Disability Party candidate to help others access the ballot more easily. I received 5 write in votes, mostly in small, red counties that voted for Republican Diego Morales. These counties were White, Brown, Spencer, Warrick, and Vanderburgh.

It is no wonder that I received so few votes. A write in hardly ever wins and when they do, it is because they spent a great deal of money and time. I had a budget of $0 because I have not received Camp LeJeune justice yet. 69 years have expired with no justice and stifling the life opportunities of the victims is one of the damages.

I was living in the Philippines and thus was not present in Indiana at any time during the election from May forwards.

Another fact about this race that is incredible is that the voter turnout is down by 40% compared with 2018. One might say this is a major disappointment for democracy in Indiana, but I say the opposite.

When voters fail to vote for Secretary of State, that impacts the number of signatures a small party must gather to get on the ballot. In 2018, the total vote was 2,246,759. Thus, 2% of that number is how many signatures it has taken for ballot access in a statewide race. For the last 4 years, that number has been 44,935.

2022 saw 1,347,968 votes for Secretary of State (it may be slightly higher in the end, but more or less this amount). 2% of that number is 26,959.

When Democrats go negative, it drives down the vote total and 2022 was no exception to that rule. Destiny Wells started attacking Diego Morales and she not only lost dismally, but she managed to drive down the voter turnout for this race.

It has been estimated that with 44,935 signatures, the cost of such petitioning is $500,000. However, with the lower number being 40% less, that cost should come down to about $300,000. Indiana Green Party v. Sullivan, 1:2022-cv-00518 (S.D. Ind.)

This is good for me if I choose to hire a petition company to get the signatures I need in 2026 for Secretary of State ballot access. It is highly likely that I will have my Camp LeJeune justice payments well before 2026 and I will be able to afford it.

These 5 votes simply demonstrate that I am here, I am “waiting in the wings” for things to change. And when they do change, disabled people will be running for office all over the state without being insulted and excluded by the larger parties.

2022 was a prelude. Even running for office for $0 and achieving 5 votes allowed me to be listed after the election as having run in that election under Disability Party. Free exposure is good. Let’s see how it goes when I have money.

• BALLOTPEDIA: https://ballotpedia.org/Indiana_Secretary_of_State_election,_2022
• BALLOTPEDIA, ANDREW STRAW: https://ballotpedia.org/Andrew_Straw
• CAMP LEJEUNE JUSTICE ACT: Public Law 117-168, SEC. 804
• https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3373/text
• CLAIM 1: Infant Brain Injuries.  https://claim1.andrewstraw.com
• CLAIM 2: Wrongful Death. https://claim2.andrewstraw.com
• CLAIM 3: Law Career Damage. https://claim3.andrewstraw.com

My next step in using democracy as a broom to sweep out the disability discrimination bad blood in Indiana courts is to oppose the retention of the Chief Justice of Indiana Loretta Rush in 2024. I bought a domain name for that political campaign: www.lorettarush.com

I call this the NO RUSH campaign. God willing, I will have Camp LeJeune money for that cause two years from now.