Common Cause Indiana and two branches of the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to challenge the law that governs early voting in Marion County. In 2008, two sites were established outside downtown Indianapolis that offered in-person early voting. But now they’re gone, meaning anyone in Marion County who wants to cast an early ballot has to make the trip to a single downtown office. Indiana law mandates that county election boards unanimously endorse early-voting locations. Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause Indiana, says the lack of access has become a constitutional issue, and that it also violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“The Voting Rights Act says that you can’t apply a law in such a way that voters in some areas have much more access than others,” Vaughn says.
Vaughn says the change stands in contrast to what’s happening elsewhere.
“In all of the counties that surround Marion County, there are multiple locations, in some seven or eight locations, where voters can vote early in-person,” Vaughn says.
Full Article: Marion County Election Board Sued Over Early Voting Access.