A bill heading for Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk would place a few more rules on voting by mail in Indiana.
House Bill 1334 was approved by the full Indiana Senate on Tuesday with a party-line vote 64-30. The bill would make it a requirement to provide a copy of you government-issued ID card or driver’s license, along with documentation of the last four digits of your social security number in order to receive a mail-in ballot.
“It establishes new standards for absentee ballot applications by mail that align with the other ways we vote,” said State Sen. Eric Koch (R) “We have had many convictions of absentee ballot fraud.”
That is the main argument amongst Republican lawmakers in support of the bill in order to better secure elections in Indiana. In a back and-forth with State Sen. J.D. Ford (D) earlier this month Koch listed several of the cases in which Hoosiers were convicted of voter fraud related to mail-in absentee voting.
Ford, on the other hand like most Democrats, believes the bill is a bad idea.
“I still stand before you today thinking that this bill is going to make it harder for our older voters to vote,” he said. “Our most vulnerable citizens will be unable to vote unless they have the means of mobility to get a valid ID or have assistance updating their registration ahead of the statewide registration deadline.”
Under the bill, the application would also have to be a paper application, which stoked fears from Ford that some Hoosiers may not have access to a printer or means to mail such an application.
The changes would take effect July 1st, meaning the new rules would be in effect for upcoming fall municipal elections throughout the state.
2 comments
the democRats only fear losing another avenue to cheat in our elections.
If someone really has no access to a computer/printer, no transportation, no identification they aren’t going to be voting anyway…they will only be a name that election fraudsters will use to support their chosen candidate (like dead people not cleared from the roles).
For some reason dead people usually vote all democrat.