By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
May 5, 2026
For Hoosiers who have a question or encounter a problem while voting in the May 5 primary, help is just a phone call away.
Volunteers with the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights will again be answering the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline to provide assistance to voters or report issues with the voting process.
Indiana voters can reach the hotline by calling 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) anytime while the polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The hotline is also available for non-English speakers in the following languages:
In addition to the hotline, voters can access the Election Protection program through the organization’s website, 866ourvote.org, @866ourVote and facebook.com/866OurVote.
The volunteers for the Chicago-based organization have been trained in Indiana election law, including recent changes that have required some voters to show their proof of citizenship in order to register and have banned student IDs from being used as a form of identification at the voting booth.
Conner Kozisek, program counsel for the Midwest Voting Rights Program for CLCCR, said the volunteers will be able to provide answers to a range of questions. In the past, some voters have called needing help finding their polling site or checking their voter registrations, while others have reached out after encountering problems with electioneering at their voting location or after receiving a provisional ballot.
The volunteers will work to resolve the issue during the phone call by talking to the voter, getting the details of the situation, and making sure the election law was followed, Kozisek said. In some instances, the volunteers will contact the local election authority to resolve the issue.
“Our overarching goal as a nonpartisan program is ensuring that every voter is able to vote and have that vote counted,” Kozisek said. “So, the main issues we look for are things that would potentially prevent an individual who’s eligible from being able to cast a ballot.”
Hoosiers can check their voter registration, find their polling location and see who is on their ballot by visiting the Indiana Secretary of State’s voter portal. School board races, which for the first time in Indiana will be partisan, will not appear on the ballot until the general election in November.
Additional information about voting in Indiana’s primary can be found at 411Vote.org, the website operated by the League of Women Voters.
Volunteers from the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Common Cause Indiana, Count US IN and other partnering organizations will also be on site at select voting locations around the state. They will be answering questions and offering assistance to voters.
Count US IN has bolstered the training for the volunteers in its Election Defenders program, according to Jalyn Radziminski-Hooks, executive and lead policy director for the bipartisan nonprofit. The mission of the program is to promote safety at the polls, help people get access to the ballot box and know their rights, and give voters a good experience, so they participate in future elections, she said.
The push to recruit more volunteers and increase the program’s presence, Radziminski-Hooks said, is being driven by a political climate that is making community members nervous. The training covers Indiana election law and the rights of Hoosiers as well as de-escalation tactics to enable the volunteers to ease any tensions between individuals at the polls, she said.
Every election can be intense, Radziminski-Hooks said, but this year, questions have been raised about whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or the military are allowed at the polls. She said federal immigration officers have tended to act more covertly in Indiana than in other places, like Minnesota and Illinois, but the Election Defenders program’s volunteers still need to be prepared to address those fears.
“People are just scared by what they see on the news,” Radziminski-Hooks said. “If they know someone from their community is there to help them and know their rights, we’re hoping that people aren’t deterred from (voting).”
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org
