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(Photo/Xain Ballenger of TheStatehouseFile.com)

By Marilyn Odendahl

The Indiana Citizen

January 31, 2024

A controversial election security bill passed the Indiana House Monday, as Democrats, saying the measure would prevent eligible Hoosiers, namely immigrants, from voting, questioned the motive for the legislation.

House Bill 1264 contains several provisions related to voter registration. In particular, the bill requires that voter registrations be compared to the records from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles and federal jury forms to identify non-citizens who have registered to vote. Also, the measure allows the Indiana Secretary of State to verify voters’ addresses by using “commercially available data,” including credit reports.

The bill stirred strong reactions during its two hearings before the House Elections and Apportionment Committee in mid-January. Democrats opposed the measure in committee and they continued to oppose it on the House floor.

They raised concerns that the proof-of-citizenship requirements could violate federal law and prevent immigrants who are naturalized citizens from being able to vote. Also, they see the bill as possibly bringing litigation because of its vague language that, Democrats said, could be interpreted as barring organizations from holding voter registration drives.

Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, gave a detailed analysis of the bill and, in highlighting the proof-of-citizenship provision, said the law could be overturned if Indiana did not comply with the National Voting Rights Act. Also, she referred to public testimony given when HB 1264 was in committee and said the 30 days given for registrants to prove they are legal citizens eligible to vote might not be enough time.

“In the end, this bill makes it much easier to eliminate those who don’t look like citizens,” Boy said. “They don’t look like us.”

Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, the author of the bill, touted the measure as further securing Indiana’s elections by helping ensure voter rolls are accurate by listing only citizens and residents.  He also pushed back on Democrats’ allegations, saying the bill is not anti-immigrant. The bill, he said, is “simply seeking to make sure” that non-citizens do not mistakenly get onto the voter rolls.

“People do inadvertently get registered to vote,” Wesco said. “It’s frankly doing them a favor to make sure that they are taken off the voter registration rolls, because when they apply for citizenship, (the registration) can become a problem for them in that process.”

Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, said the legislature should be passing laws to help Indiana residents vote, rather than making the process more difficult. In her criticism of the bill, she alluded to the 2023 Indiana Civic Health Index released last week that shows the Hoosier state ranked 50^th in the nation in voter turnout during the 2022 mid-term elections.

“I do not understand how any election bill that we pass is not intended to make us better, to encourage more voters, to get out of the last place for voting percentages,” Pfaff said. “House Bill 1264 is a bill that, under the veil of election security, employs tactics that not only discriminate against a significant portion of our electorate, but also undermines the very foundation of our democratic process.”

Wesco disputed that contention, saying Indiana is not last in voter turnout.

“We’re not as high as I’d like to be, but we’re not dead last,” Wesco said. “That’s a misnomer and a mischaracterization.”

The 2023 civic health index examined voting turnout in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. Indiana ranked 50^th and West Virginia ranked 51^st in the 2022 elections.

HB 1264 passed on a 67-to-29 party line vote. It will now move to the Indiana Senate, where Republican Sens. Mike Gaskill, of Pendleton,  and Eric Koch, of Bedford, are the sponsors.

After the House vote, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales’ office released a statement applauding the bill’s passage. “As the state’s Chief Election officer, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales believes that voter registration lists need to be accurate. HB 1264 will give county clerks and voter registration boards tools to update voter information, including current address and citizenship status,” the statement said.

Amendment to extend poll hours defeated

On Jan. 25, when HB 1264 was called for its second reading, Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, offered an amendment that she said would help Indiana improve its voter turnout rate. Her amendment would have kept the polls open two hours longer on Election Day, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., instead of closing at 6 p.m.

“In the area of critical voter participation, Indiana is in crisis,” Hamilton, pointing to Indiana’s low voter registration and turnout rankings, said. “So taking this one step will help people be able to participate.”

Wesco had pushed similar legislation in 2020 but he spoke against Hamilton’s amendment. He said Indiana has 30 days of early voting and said the burden would be placed on poll workers who are already arriving before 6 a.m. and staying until after the polls have closed.

“So you’re already looking at a 14-hour day, when you consider the time early and late that you have stay and taking that to a 15- or 16-hour day,” Wesco said. “No adjoining state has 14 hours of polls open on Election Day. This is an undue burden on our poll workers. It also delays election results, which … is something else very important to voters.”

Kentucky has the same hours as Indiana but Illinois, Ohio and Michigan keep their polls open for 13 hours on Election Day.

Hamilton countered that fatigue among the poll workers could be combated by dividing the day into two shifts so poll workers would not have to work the entire day.

“Also, we do have early voting, (but) there are fewer locations for early voting so many people simply don’t find that an option and wait until Election Day…to be able to vote,” Hamilton said. “As far as getting results early, well, I think every other state in the nation, except for Kentucky, has proven that’s not a concern worthy of reducing access to the polls on Election Day.”

The amendment failed to pass on a 30-to-67 vote.

Previous bill to extend polling hours drew mixed reaction

In 2020, Wesco’s House Bill 1221 included a provision to extend Election Day polling hours to 8 p.m. The bill received a hearing before the House Elections and Apportionment Committee, which Wesco chaired, but apparently was never called for a vote.

Wesco told the committee members at that time that he just wanted to have a general discussion to see if people wanted the polls to be kept open longer on Election Day. He noted that only Indiana and Kentucky open their polls at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. While other states also operate their polling places for 12 hours, he said, they open later at 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m.

However, in 2020, the testimony by members of the public and the discussion among the committee members showed the idea of extending voting on Election Day by two hours was not strongly supported.

The Association of the Clerks of Circuit Courts of Indiana opposed the bill, citing concerns about requiring volunteers to work longer hours at the polls.

Common Cause Indiana and Women for Change supported Wesco’s bill. The two groups, pointing to the 2019 Indiana Civic Health Index findings, said the extended hours would help more Hoosiers get to the polls. They noted, especially, the parents who struggle to retrieve their children from day care and then have to try to get to the polls by 6 p.m.

“This bill, I think, helps a lot of different kinds of voters but, in particular, people who have to pick up children after they get off work, people who perhaps live in a different county than they work, and people who are working a couple of different jobs,” Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, told the committee members. “So, I think, it just really is a good common sense solution to address the voter turnout issues here in our state.”

However, Republicans serving on the committee in 2020 remained skeptical.

“In Clay County, the polls are not open for 12 hours, they’re open for 166 hours,” Rep. Alan Morrison, R-Brazil, said, explaining that voters had four weeks prior to Election Day to vote early. “So it’s hard for me to see how adding two hours anywhere would make any bit of statistical difference in voter turnout.”

(This story has been updated to include the statement from Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales’ office.)

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.