Republican incumbent campaigns on political experience

Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita describes his position as the intersection of law, business and government in Indiana. After serving as Indiana's secretary of state for four years, Rokita is hoping to be re-elected next week.\nThe nation's youngest secretary of state, Rokita, 36, serves as the chief election official in Indiana, making sure practices are "as fair, accurate and accessible as possible," he said in an e-mail.\n"What I like most about (my job) is you can really affect the world, or at least those lives that you touch, in a positive way and that the work from day to day is always different," he said.\nPrior to being elected the secretary of state in 2002, Rokita worked as the deputy secretary of state. Rokita currently serves as chief securities fraud investigator, discovering security law violators and fraud scams.\nActive in the National Association of Secretaries of State, Rokita is making plans to serve as the president of the organization in 2007, after finishing as treasurer, according to a biography on his Web site.\nImproving voter turnout is a big concern for Rokita, he said. Young people aren't pulling their weight at the polls, and a college poll worker program Rokita initiated will help "re-indoctrinate back into our culture the importance of voting," he said.\nReaching out to college students by creating programs that teach students how to budget and save money is another one of the ways Rokita has helped the college generation, he said. \nWith his opponent, Democratic candidate Joe Pearson, pushing for voter-verified paper ballots, Rokita said replacing the new and current electronic voting system would cost the state millions of dollars,\n"At this time, I see no evidence that suggests we need to pay tens of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to quench or to stop a made-up fear," Rokita said. "Because you're talking about re-doing all the polling equipment we just paid $80 million for."\nStricter voting laws, which began this year in primary elections, now require voters to have a photo ID when voting.\nRokita's push for these laws now ensures that voters will be confident at the polls, he said.\n"I am for photo IDs at the polls as a common sense, no-cost way to increase voter confidence that the vote they cast will not be stolen and their identity won't be stolen by somebody who's trying to cheat," Rokita said. \nReforming the Indiana Election Commission and expanding vote centers are two of Rokita's goals, given that he is re-elected, he said.\nRokita said he believes the Indiana Election Division, as it stands now, is set up for failure. In 2007, he hopes to introduce legislation that will reform it. The new law would make the election division accountable to the secretary of state, giving the secretary of state the "tie-breaking vote" on the election commission's decisions, Rokita said in an e-mail.\nExpanding vote centers is another of Rokita's goals, he said. In 2008, Rokita hopes to implement legislation that would make vote centers more available in order to increase voter turnout.\nRokita said his public service job allows him to help people and solve problems. \n"My impression of being secretary of state for four years is that it's definitely a job, more than a job, that requires you to really like working with and solving problems for people, and I do"