Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed legislation to purge Indiana’s voter rolls, with the goal of preventing election fraud.
The Republican-sponsored bill introduces new requirements, including proof of residency for first-time voters.
Ami Gandhi, director of strategic initiatives and Midwest voting rights for the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and a Monroe County resident, argued it may disenfranchise college students, the homeless, elderly and others who want to cast a ballot.
“I’m the daughter of immigrants and I’ve heard dehumanizing language in this room about mixed-status families, about our diverse communities,” Gandhi explained. “I really want to see better in terms of our efforts to actually include people who are eligible to vote and who do not deserve undue suspicion.”
Gandhi pointed out the legislation comes during a time when there is a need for more eligible voters to be more civically engaged. Supporters argued the bill helps identify noncitizens on voter rolls. The new law also requires officials to cross-reference voter-registration systems with data from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and allows them to work with credit data agencies to verify addresses. The new law goes into effect July 1, 2025.
The legislation was authored by Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, and comes while ongoing debates on voting rights play out nationwide and states grapple with how to safeguard the integrity of their electoral processes.
“I have friends that are not citizens. They’re grateful to be here but they’re not citizens, and so they don’t vote,” Wesco observed. “It’s not a threat; there are citizens and there are noncitizens, and we’re grateful for both but there is a process.”
At least two people who spoke at a public hearing asked lawmakers to consider sending the proposed legislation to a summer committee for a deeper dive into the issue. However, the governor’s signature on the bill makes their request moot and House Bill 1264 law.
13 comments
Whine whine whine. That what cheaters do.
“I really want to see better in terms of our efforts to actually include people who are eligible to vote and who do not deserve undue suspicion.”
Conversely, I think that since voting is a precious right reserved exclusively for Citizens the status of EVERY voter should be verified before EVERY election. That’s not “suspicion”, it’s just common sense. Apparently Ami Ghandi is lacking that.
Or maybe Ami Ghandi is just trying to facilitate more Democrat election fraud?
Or is she just racist. Is her claim really going to be that legal citizens in a “mixed-status” family somehow do not have legal IDs? Those are needed for a lot more than just voting.
Holcomb deserves prison.
Finally someone is doing something about the democratic dictatorship. Maybe small but we in Indiana won’t let another election be stolen.
Uhhh, stolen? Another election stolen? When was there ever a stolen election? Are u still clinging onto the lies of the orange cult leader?
Election was not stolen
Trumpty dumpty was the only one to try and steal a election. I do believe he’s republican.
That just shows how intellectually handicapped you are.
Indiana deserves better! Why not ask Republican leadership work on our sub-standard education and Healthcare systems as hard as they work to minimize voter turnout. Our leadership is disgraceful,at best, in Indiana and true leadership for Hoosiers is in the name of “Trumpaliban” sickens me at every level. Indiana deserves better!
Right on, man!
Each election you should have voter id and know you are a resident where you are voting at. Absent ballots must be verified that you requested the ballot and signature verified when it is being checked when returned
What’s wrong with a verification of who you are and make sure that the election process is not compromised.
The last election was not stolen. There has never been any widespread voter fraud, and misinformation is rampant. If I read this correctly, it sounds like there is a voter purge afoot. Now why would that be?
Did anyone catch the sentence about officials will have the ability to work with credit agencies to verify addresses? That sure is a lot of information just to verify an address. Why would they need to go beyond the BMV? Does this mean social security numbers are accessible to election officials? If so, this law needs revision.