By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
June 17, 2024
All IN for Democracy, a coalition of 25 organizations focused on voting rights and accessibility, is seeking to meet with Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales over concerns about the potential use of law enforcement at polling locations.
The coalition sent a letter to Morales on June 11, referencing a news article about the secretary of state’s “Blow the Whistle On Election Interference” guide. Included were policies that would encourage local law enforcement to be “highly visible” at polling places and county government offices where voting occurs to ostensibly combat election interference.
“If you are a member of a marginalized community, amidst a lot of the rhetoric and hyperbole that we have going on across the country right now, and you’re walking or driving to a polling site and you see a polling site with a lot of people and some armed police officers, you might be hesitant to pull in,” Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, said. “Polling places should feel welcoming and warm, and not everybody feels welcomed and warm when they see armed police officers.”
The Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana is part of All IN for Democracy and was one of the 11 organizations signing the letter.
However, the secretary of state’s office said it has not advocated for police to be present at the polls.
“In the interest of the safety of voters and election workers, the secretary of state’s ‘Blow the Whistle on Election Interference’ initiative is aimed at encouraging collaboration between election officials, local emergency management offices, and law enforcement agencies as Indiana law provides,” spokesperson Lindsey Eaton said in an email.
The 180-page “Blow the whistle” guides were sent in May from the secretary of state’s office to hundreds of election administrators, lawmakers and law enforcement officers across Indiana at a cost of over $35,000 to taxpayers, according to a story in the Indiana Capital Chronicle. The thick, spiral-bound books included whistles strung on lanyards.
The letter stated the coalition wants poll workers and voters to be safe during elections and noted its support of Senate Enrolled Act 170 which made threatening, obstructing or injuring an election worker a Level 6 felony. Keeping poll workers safe is essential to calming voters’ worries about election interference, the coalition stated in its letter, but the presence of police could discourage some Hoosiers from voting.
In particular, the coalition cited the history of police officers “targeting and intimidating voters of color” at the polls and stated that having law enforcement at the election locations “won’t create a welcoming environment for voters and could cause intimidation and have a chilling effect on voter turnout.”
Olson said the letter was meant to start a dialogue with the secretary of state’s office. The coalition, he said, wants to speak to the secretary of state about how to make elections safe and secure, while also fostering robust voter participation.
“We’re extending a branch to have a dialogue and hopefully that dialogue can occur,” Olson said. “No demands, but let’s share information, share facts, share our perspective and find a places that leads to … better participation in elections.”
Eaton said the coalition’s request for a meeting is being processed by the secretary of state’s communications office. “Constituent services remain a top priority for Secretary Morales,” she said in an email.
Indiana is not alone in addressing concerns over safety of election officials and election workers.
Eighteen states have enacted laws that provide protection for those who work the polls and 10 of those states, including Indiana, have attached criminal penalties, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Also, a 2024 survey of 928 election officials from across the country by the Brennan Center for Justice found more than half had engaged with law enforcement since the 2020 election. However, the survey showed the officials had shared election details, such as voting locations and hours, with their local law enforcement officials, exchanged contact information and developed an incident response plan with police. The survey did not specifically indicate that election officials had beefed up the presence of police at their polling sites.
Kaitie Rector, co-founder and director of advocacy for MADVoters, a member of the All IN for Democracy coalition, linked the concerns about poll workers’ safety in Indiana to the behavior of some elected officials.
“Threats against election workers do not come out of thin air. They are the direct result of reckless, baseless, insistent allegations of election denial that our own secretary of state himself has supported,” Rector said in an email. “Sending law enforcement to polling places to address these threats – without denouncing the root cause behind these threats – is simple grandstanding and displays a strong lack of accountability and integrity from our secretary of state’s office.”
All IN for Democracy was created during the 2021 redistricting process in Indiana. The coalition’s activities waned a bit after the redrawn legislative and congressional maps were passed by the Indiana General Assembly, Olson said, but its members are becoming more active as the legislature has passed voting bills in recent years and as voter turnout in the state continues to be among the lowest in the country.
“So we’re engaging in trying to preserve democracy in the state of Indiana, encourage voter participation and encourage voter engagement,” Olson said.
Dwight Adams, a freelance 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
