Indiana

Indiana GOP election division leaders resign | Niki Kelly/Indiana Capital Chronicle

The top two Republicans at the Indiana Election Division have tendered their resignations, effective May 6 — the day after the primary election. Co-director Brad King is retiring after 24 years in the role and a host of accomplishments to his name. Co-General Counsel Valerie Warycha, who is supporting GOP Secretary of State candidate David Shelton, is also leaving. King and Warycha work alongside the Democratic co-director and co-general counsel in the Indiana Election Division, which is part of Secretary of State Diego Morales’ agency. He is seeking renomination at state convention this summer. Read Article

Indiana election bill would undermine secret ballots for early voters | Jessica Huseman/Votebeat

For more than a century, American elections have operated around a simple promise: who you voted for is a secret. But a bill moving through the Indiana legislature would undermine that promise — at least for people who vote early. House Bill 1359 would let counties have early voters feed their completed ballots directly into a scanning machine instead of placing them in a sealed secrecy envelope. It would then allow those ballots to be scanned starting on the first day of early voting, rather than waiting until closer to Election Day. On its own, that process isn’t unusual — it’s similar to how ballots are handled at in-person polling places on Election Day. But the bill also authorizes counties to generate a unique identifier connected to each voter during early voting, print that number on the voter’s ballot, and allow officials to retract a scanned ballot if its voter is later found ineligible. That combination weakens the traditional separation between a voter’s identity and the ballot they cast. Read Article

New Indiana election laws face court challenges over their constitutionality | Cameron Shaw/The Indiana Lawyer

Two Indiana election laws that went into effect this summer are being challenged in federal court, with voting-rights advocates arguing that they disenfranchise young and naturalized voters. One federal judge already has given some hope to the plaintiffs in a case against Senate Enrolled Act 10, which was passed this spring and bars the use of state-issued student IDs as a proof of identification at polling locations, something that had been allowed for 20 years in Indiana. The court dismissed Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales and Indiana Election Commission Chair Paul Okeson’s motion for dismissal last month, saying the plaintiffs—several voting rights organizations and an Indiana University student—had provided a plausible argument that SEA 10 could discriminately burden young people from voting. Read Article

Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales sued over new voting laws affecting naturalized citizens | Kayla Dwyer/Indianapolis Star

Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales and the directors of the Indiana Election Division are being taken to federal court over two new state laws that impact naturalized citizens who vote. Both laws, which became effective July 1 of this year, require some form of cross-check between voter information and citizenship status in a manner that some voting rights organizations, in a lawsuit filed Oct. 21, allege violates both the National Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act by creating unnecessary barriers for a certain class of U.S. citizen. “Many individuals (we have) assisted to obtain citizenship over the years fled from countries where they never had the chance to participate in a democracy," Cole Varga, CEO of Exodus Refugee Immigration, one of the plaintiffs, wrote in a statement. "We cannot allow their voices to be silenced again in Indiana." Read Article

Indiana: ‘They are a threat:’ House votes to ban student IDs at polls | Kayla Dwyer/Indianapolis Star

Senate Bill 10 would specifically banish state university-issued IDs from being acceptible forms of photo identification used at the voting booth, seemingly to address fears about non-residents voting in Indiana elections, even though this part of the law has nothing to do with address verification. "What's not being said here is 'We don't want people to actually come out and vote," said Wade Arvizu, a student at IU Indianapolis, "and I think that's the reality." Rep. Renee Pack, D-Indianapolis, made the implication more explicit on the House floor Tuesday. "Who are these students voting for?" she said. "I'm just going to be truthful, they are a threat. They are threat to Republicans in this state. They’re powerful. And it seems like we just don't like powerful groups." Read Article

Indiana: VR Systems’ exit from state leaves voting center plans up in the air | Dave Stafford/Brown County Democrat

Brown County’s plans to adopt voting centers for the 2026 election appears to be in jeopardy as one of the county’s suppliers of election equipment has given notice that it intends to cease doing business in Indiana. County officials said the supplier of electronic poll books for elections in Brown County and several other counties in the state, VR Systems, has informed them that they are discontinuing service in Indiana because it was no longer profitable. The Brown County Election Board discussed the situation Tuesday, and chairman Mark Williams said he plans to brief the Brown County Council at their meeting on Feb. 17. “We had a knuckleball thrown at us,” Williams said. Read Article

Indiana: Group ask Boone County Commissioners to stage coup of election process | Maria Flora/The Lebanon Reporter

A group of voters, led by Boone County Commissioner Tim Beyer, is requesting Boone County Commissioners to take control of the 2024 election from the county election board. The group, comprising around 150 constituents, alleges that their concerns about the vulnerability of electronic voting machines and the unconstitutionality of local elections, as well as their call to return to paper ballots, have been ignored by the Boone County Election Board. Read Article

Indiana: Judge dismisses federal suit concerning Warrick County voting machines | Jon Webb/Evansville Courier & Press

A federal lawsuit accusing Warrick County officials in Indiana of using uncertified and vulnerable voting machines was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds by Judge Richard L. Young on November 21. The lawsuit, filed by two Chandler residents in September 2022, claimed that Warrick County officials misled voters by not using paper ballots and failing to provide transparency regarding the voting systems. Commissioner President Terry Phillipe emphasized that the decision should instill confidence in the fairness and accuracy of elections in Warrick County. Read Article

Indiana: Settlement expands voting access to Hoosiers with print disabilities | news | Violet Comber-Willen/Indiana Public Media

Indiana will now offer a remote, accessible ballot marking tool for those with print disabilities following a new settlement. This could increase ballot accessibility for voters with these types of disabilities. Prior to this settlement, voters with print disabilities could only vote by mail if they were assisted by someone from the state’s appointed travel board. Jelena Kolic is an attorney with Disability Rights Advocates. She said voters with print disabilities now have other options beyond this travel board option. “That requirement is now permissive, rather than mandatory,” she said. “Now, they also could request the assistance of a person of their choice for the purpose of the mail.” Voters may also vote independently with this electronic software. Kolic said this expanded access to resources gives Hoosiers who have print disabilities rights equal to those who do not. “Voting is the bedrock of democracy – it's the bedrock of citizenship,” Kolic said. “People with print disabilities are entitled to this right just as much as everyone else and should be on equal footing with everyone else and thanks to the settlement, they will be.” Full Article: Settlement expands voting access to Hoosiers with print disabilities | news - Indiana Public Media

Indiana agrees to provide voting tool to Hoosiers with print disabilities | Dan Carden/The Times of Northwest Indiana

Hoosier adults with print disabilities no longer will be obligated to obtain assistance to cast an absentee ballot for at least the next two years. Indiana Disability Rights announced Wednesday the settlement of its lawsuit against a variety of state election officials, which enables qualifying voters to obtain a remote accessible ballot marking tool for all elections between May 2023 and May 2025. Previously, voters with print disabilities — such as people unable to independently mark a paper ballot or ballot card due to blindness, low vision or a physical disability limiting manual dexterity — generally were required to fill out their mail-in ballot in front of a "traveling board" of election judges. According to the settlement agreement, the remote accessible ballot marking tool will instead allow voters with print disabilities to sign all ballots and forms electronically without the assistance of another person, and those voters will have the option of returning their ballot via email. Full Article: Indiana agrees to provide voting tool to Hoosiers with print disabilities

Indiana: Computer error causes election reporting issues in Clark County | WHAS

Officials say during the routine ballot canvassing process, they were notified that approximately 1,700 absentee ballots from Clark County were not included in the unofficial vote totals released to the public Tuesday night. The race most likely to be affected is the Indiana House District 71 race, where Republican Scott Hawkins has a 35 vote lead over Democrat Rita Fleming. County Clerk Susan Popp says the issue was caused by data not transferring from a voting machine to the election totals. She was clear that no ballots were "found" as previously reported. Popp said all seven of the county's voting machines that counted absentee ballots were working perfectly, the issue came when staff took out the memory cards. One of the cards didn't transfer to the computer system, she said. "I think all votes should be counted, and they will in this race, obviously," Clark County Chairman of the Republican Party, Sheriff Jamey Noel, said. "The result may not change, but if it does, we'll accept that new result." Full Article: Computer error causes election reporting issues in Clark County | whas11.com

Indiana: Lake County Election Board approves resolution to volunteer county for post-election audits in state pilot program | Alexandra Kukulka/Chicago Tribune

The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration approved Tuesday a resolution to volunteer the county as a post-election audit county for a state pilot program. State law requires that by 2024 all counties utilize a voter verifiable paper audit trail, or VVPAT machines, said Lake County Board of Elections and Registration assistant director LeAnn Angerman. The county implemented VVPAT machines during early voting in the 2022 primary election, she said, and the 2022 general election will see a 10% implementation of VVPAT machines in the polls. Angerman and Lake County Board of Elections and Registration director Michelle Fajman have financial and storage concerns with the VVPAT machines. While the state is paying for the VVPAT machines, Angerman said the county will have to pay for the special thermal paper the machines require. When the county receives 1,300 VVPAT machines by 2024, it’ll be costly to restock the paper at about $9 a roll, she said. Fajman said the paper has to be stored in a climate controlled environment, so it’ll be challenging to find a place to store it. Angerman said storing the VVPAT machines will either require renovation or finding additional storage space. “The space we have is not sufficient,” Angerman said.

Full Article: Election board approves resolution to volunteer county for post-election audits in state pilot program – Chicago Tribune

Indiana flubs election security: taxpayers to spend $10+ million on questionable machines | Margaret Menge/Crosssroads Report

In March, Indiana made what may be seen for years to come as a colossal mistake for election integrity. With almost no discussion, a bill authored by Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, was pushed through the Indiana General Assembly to add a paper audit trail to voting machines that are used in 57 of 92 Indiana counties. The problem is, the printers that are supposed to add that paper audit trail don’t produce real paper ballots that can be easily counted by hand in a post-election audit or recount. What they do is print on a roll of narrow, thermal paper that remains inside the machine. Shockingly, Rep. Wesco, the chairman of the House elections committee, appeared to lie about this in testimony before the Indiana Senate appropriations committee on February 24 — the last committee to hear the bill before it was to go to the full Senate to be voted on, saying “there is a ballot that is printed out that the voter verifies.” Wesco was refuting testimony from the one citizen who testified that day — Barbara Tully of Indiana Vote by Mail, who told the senators on the committee that no paper comes out of the machine — that the machines do not produce real paper ballots. A senator questioned Wesco, and he affirmed his testimony, saying “correct,” when the senator asked if the machine prints out a piece of paper that the voter can look at. Bizarrely, Wesco again reiterated what he’d said in his testimony, that this paper is inserted into another machine. Nothing like this happens with a VVPAT. Full Article:Indiana flubs election security: taxpayers to spend $10+ million on questionable machines

Indiana: Cost to add paper trail for voting machines will be more than $1 million in some counties | Margaret Menge/The Center Square

Two counties in Indiana now using paperless voting machines will each require an estimated $1.2 million worth of additional equipment to add a paper audit trail before the next presidential election. A bill signed earlier this month by Gov. Eric Holcomb requires paper backups for all voting machines in the state by July 1, 2024. Specifically, it requires the 59 counties that use MicroVote voting machines, which are all-electronic and don’t involve a paper ballot, to have “voter verifiable paper audit trail” – or vvpat –printers to retrofit all machines by July 1 of 2024. The printers attach to the MicroVote Infinity voting machines with a cord, and contain a roll of paper tape, similar to cash register tape, that voters can view behind a glass window to verify their selections are correct before casting their vote. In Allen County, the Director of Elections Amy Scrogham says it will cost about $1.2 million to buy vvpats for all of their MicroVote machines. The county has 715 machines, but only 160 vvpats. “We haven’t used them yet,” she says of the vvpats, explaining she decided not to start using them for the first time during the 2020 election, fearing it would overburden election workers who were already dealing with pandemic-related issues. In Hamilton County, Elections Administrator Beth Sheller said the last estimate from MicroVote was a cost of $2,230 for each vvpat printer and a case to carry it in. Hamilton County, she says, has 693 MicroVote voting machines and now has 150 vvpats. Full Article: Cost to add paper trail for voting machines will be more than $1 million in some Indiana counties | Indiana | thecentersquare.com

Indiana governor signs bill requiring paper backup for all voting machines by 2024 | Margaret Menge/The Center Square

Full Article: Indiana governor signs bill requiring paper backup for all voting machines by 2024 | State | shelbynews.com

Indiana lawmakers say they want to secure elections. Voting groups say the focus is wrong | Kaitlin Lange/Indianapolis Star

Indiana lawmakers are advancing legislation that they say would further ensure confidence in Indiana's elections amid a national focus on election security. But voting rights groups say the state is focusing on the wrong tactics with House Bill 1116, which passed out of the Senate elections committee on Monday despite opposition from Democrats. In order to request an absentee mail-in ballot online under the legislation, a voter would have to provide either their driver's license number or the last four digits of the their Social Security number. State election officials say the bill codifies a process that was already implemented in 2020 when online ballot requests were first allowed and agreed upon by the co-directors of the Indiana Election Division. Voting rights groups, though, argue the requirement could limit who decides to request a ballot. Indiana Vote by Mail, Indiana League of Women Voters, Verified Voting and Free Speech For People sent a letter to lawmakers emphasizing that outfitting Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines with printers produces a paper trail that is "difficult or impossible" for Hoosiers to verify their votes or for election officials to use in audits. The font can be challenging to read and thermal paper used can rip or fade, the groups said in their letter.

Full Article: Indiana voting rights to look different under bills in House, Senate

Indiana: Voting Groups Urge Move to Paper Election Ballots | Tom Davies/Associated Press

Full Article: Voting Groups Urge Indiana Move to Paper Election Ballots | Indiana News | US News

Indiana House restores 2024 deadline for counties to install paper backups on voting machines | Brandon Smith/IPB

The Indiana House has reversed course, restoring language in a bill that will move up the deadline for counties to install a vital election security measure. Current law requires counties to have paper backup systems for their electronic voting machines by 2030. A bill this session, HB 1116, would move that date up to July 2024. But the House Ways and Means committee eliminated that change because it costs money – about $12 million. Then, on the House floor Thursday, Ways and Means Chair Tim Brown (R-Crawfordsville) put the July 2024 deadline back into the bill. Full Article: House restores 2024 deadline for counties to install paper backups on voting machines

Indiana looks to require voting machines with paper ballot backups by 2024 | Margaret Menge/Princeton Daily Clarion

Full Article: Indiana looks to require voting machines with paper ballot backups by 2024 | State | pdclarion.com

Indiana: US Supreme Court declines to hear absentee ballot case | Josh Doering/WISH

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal of a lawsuit seeking to require Indiana to offer mail-in voting to all residents. The lawsuit argued Indiana’s requirement that absentee voters be at least 65 years old violates the 26th Amendment: “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” By declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court allows a federal appeals court’s ruling in favor of the state to stand and keeps the absentee voting requirements in place. The appeals court ruled the requirements for mail-in voting do not violate the 26th Amendment because they don’t prevent anyone from exercising their right to vote.

Full Article: US Supreme Court declines to hear Indiana absentee ballot case - WISH-TV | Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

Indiana to pass bill to forbid voting machines from being connected to the Internet | Margaret Menge/Kokomo Perspective

The Indiana Senate heard two election bills this week that would make several changes to how elections are conducted in the state. Both bills have already passed the House and are expected to pass the Senate on Thursday and be sent on to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature. One of the bills, HB 1365, would prohibit voting machines in the state from being connected to the Internet – a hot topic following the Nov. 3 presidential election, when cybersecurity experts testified at hearings in several states that voting machines were connected to the Internet on Election Day even though election officials believed they were not. Five different kinds of voting machines are approved for use in Indiana, including those made by Dominion Voting Systems, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic, Inc., MicroVote General Corp. and Unisyn Voting Solutions. Dominion, Hart InterCivic and ES&S have all acknowledged they install modems in their voting machines, so voting results can more easily be relayed to the state and the public. Experts say that even when connected to the Internet for only a short amount of time, voting machines can be compromised, which is likely the reason another provision was included the bill that requires a voting system to contain features to ensure “unauthorized” software has not been installed. But this provision in the bill would also “permit the adjudication of voter intent” on voting machines.

Full Article: Indiana to pass bill to forbid voting machines from being connected to the Internet | Indiana | kokomoperspective.com

Indiana: Evansville lawmaker named new secretary of state | Tom Davies/Associated Press

A legislator from Evansville who is the second-ranking officer in the state Republican Party was sworn in Tuesday as Indiana’s new secretary of state, taking over an office that oversees election issues statewide. Gov. Eric Holcomb announced his selection of Republican state Rep. Holli Sullivan for the position. Sullivan replaced outgoing Secretary of State Connie Lawson, who said last month she was resigning with nearly two years left to her elected term. Sullivan was first elected to the Indiana House in 2014 and won a new term in last November’s election. She has also been the state Republican Party’s vice chair since 2019. Lawson worked with Holcomb and other Republican leaders in allowing no-excuse mail-in voting for last year’s spring primary early in the coronavirus pandemic. But Lawson joined them in blocking a push by Democrats and voting rights groups to lift the mail-in ballot limits for the November election. Sullivan showed no divergence from that stance Tuesday, saying her top priority would be “free, fair, and secure elections, ensuring that all Hoosiers know that their vote counts.” Sullivan didn’t give any specifics when asked what steps should be taken to improve Indiana’s consistently low voter turnout, which was 65% of registered voters last fall.

Full Article: Evansville lawmaker named new Indiana secretary of state

Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson to resign – ‘2020 took a toll on me’ | Kaitlin Lange/Indianapolis Star

Republican Secretary of State Connie Lawson announced Monday that she is stepping down.  “Like many Hoosiers, 2020 took a toll on me," Lawson said in a statement. "I am resigning so I can focus on my health and my family. I will work with Governor Holcomb to ensure our next Secretary of State is up to the task and has the tools and resources to hit the ground running.” She said she will submit a formal resignation once Gov. Eric Holcomb selects her successor and he or she is ready to serve. Lawson is the longest serving secretary of state in Indiana history.  Former Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Lawson in 2012 after Secretary of State Charlie White was removed from office when he was convicted of six Class D felony charges, including voter fraud, perjury and theft. Lawson was subsequently elected in 2014 by more than 17 percentage points and then reelected in 2018 by almost 16 percentage points. She would have been up for reelection again in 2022. 

Source: Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson to resign

Indiana lawmakers call for commission on election integrity | Indiana | Margaret Menge/The Center Square

Two Indiana legislators have introduced a bill calling for the formation of a Commission on Election Integrity that would review the security of all voting machines used in the state and consider whether election laws should be changed to increase confidence in the vote. Reps. Curt Nisly, R-Milford, and John Jacob, R-Indianapolis, introduced the bill in the Indiana House of Representatives to form a nine-person bipartisan commission to make recommendations dealing with voting machines, the handling of voter data, voter rolls and relationships between election officials and voting machine vendors. The commission would be tasked with finding outside experts to assess the security of all voting machines and also look at whether absentee voting laws should be tightened, with fewer reasons for voting absentee allowed and early voting possibly curbed. Other provisions of the bill include having the commission look at requiring that any absentee, provisional and military ballots that are not counted in the presence of observers from both political parties and all candidates be excluded from vote totals, and requiring that counties do risk-limiting audits before certification of an election, with paper ballots hand-counted in at least 10% of precincts, as a check against the machine totals. Unlike some other states, Indiana doesn’t currently require risk-limiting audits. County clerks may order hand recounts when questions arise, but in most elections they rely solely on machine tallies. Voting systems certified for use in the state include those made by: Dominion, ES&S, Hart InterCivic, MicroVote and Unisyn. The machines are tested and recommended for certification by VSTOP, the Voting Systems Technical Oversight Program at Ball State University, run by a computer science professor and a criminal justice professor.

Full Article: Indiana lawmakers call for commission on election integrity | Indiana | thecentersquare.com

Indiana: Blind Voters Sue State to Improve Voting Access | Suzanne Potter/Public News Service

A group of blind voters is suing to force the state of Indiana to make absentee balloting more accessible. Blind voters now have only two options in Indiana: They can vote in person, using voting machines that read their choices aloud as they are made; or they can ask a pair of bipartisan election officials from the "traveling board" to come to their house and help them fill out the ballot. Jelena Kolic, a staff attorney with Disability Rights Advocates, said other states provide special online voting options. "They deserve to participate fully in our democracy, and to know that their vote is private and that it's being counted," she said. "And that didn't happen for some of the blind residents in Indiana this year." That's because, during the pandemic, the traveling board failed to show up at some voters' homes. Voting in person is especially challenging for people with visual impairments, who have to touch a lot of surfaces in order to get around, raising the risk of contracting COVID-19.

Full Article: Blind Voters Sue State of Indiana to Improve Voting Access / Public News Service

Indiana: Vigo County vote will go through risk-limiting audit | Howard Greninger/Terre Haute Tribune-Star

Vigo County’s 2020 general election results will undergo a risk-limiting audit, overseen by Ball State University, that will sample ballots cast in various areas of the election — from early voting sites, votes cast before election boards, by mail and in person on election day. The Vigo County Election Board Friday unanimously voted to approve the audit, which will take one to two days and conducted through the Voting System Technical Oversight Program at Ball State University. The audit is to be done in February, LaDonna Ingram, deputy clerk in the county’s Absentee Voting Office, told the Vigo County Election Board. The audit “doesn’t change the outcome of the election. It verifies that what our results say are true,” Ingram said. Not all races will be audited, but at least one state level race and one county level race will be audited, as well as potentially a judicial retention race or federal level race, Ingram said. “At the end of it, what a risk-limiting audit does and the goal of a risk-limiting audit is to instill voter confidence in the election that you run,” Ingram said. The audit determines a percentage of certainty that election results are correct, she said. “What is on your paper ballots is what was tabulated through your system. It is not a bad thing at all, but is actually a good thing for Vigo County voters that we are running an election with high integrity. It is a fairly new process,” Ingram said.

Full Article: Vigo County vote will go through risk-limiting audit | Local News | tribstar.com

Indiana: Incoming State Attorney General Rokita urging U.S. Supreme Court to throw out 20.4 million ballots to aid Trump | Dan Carden/Northwest Indiana Times

Full Article: Rokita urging U.S. Supreme Court to throw out 20.4 million ballots to aid Trump | Government and Politics | nwitimes.com