Amended version of SB 353 is at the bottom of this blog. The State League ask that the Senators not pass this bill -To no avail. Did you ask Senator Rogers to vote NO? This is our next attempt- Please take a minute to send Tim Wesco an E-mail and phone him. He is the sponsor and Chair of the elections committee and can stop this bill that sets up voting barriers. TIM WESCO – h21@iga.in.gov ph 317 232 9753 you can copy and paste, then sign with your address and phone number.
Dear Representative Wesco, As a member of the League of Women Voters and an advocate of voting rights, I would ask you to VOTE NO for SB353. Why sponsor a bill that makes it more difficult for registered people to vote. It prohibits necessary actions by the governor in a time of emergency. Tying the hands of the leadership to make essential changes in the election process in times of emergency. This will create unnecessary hardships for voters. This language makes voting harder in times of crisis. This bill will serve to disenfranchises voters and will harm the process of democracy.
To prohibit the Indiana Election Commission is an overreach and usurps that group’s responsibilities. This language limits the commission’s ability to serve and protect Indiana voters’ rights.
The Indiana General Assembly is using this law to restrict voters’ access by making voting more difficult during times of emergency.
Adding the Social Security number or the drivers’ license number requirement to the absentee ballot application process may impede some voters. Current processes already preclude an unregistered voter from receiving an absentee ballot. This language in the bill adds nothing to election security. This language is totally meritless. This part of your bill is unconstitutional.
The goal of this bill is to erect barriers to voting. By adding unnecessary steps to applying for an absentee ballot, this bill makes the process more difficult and increases chances for error. By blocking interventions by state leadership in times of crisis, guarantees that voters’ rights will not be protected and assures specific groups in the electorate will have to overcome onerous barriers to be able to vote.
News release from Chicago Feb. 17th. The Indiana Senate has sent the bill back to the house after they determined this requirement of proof of citizenship was unconstitutional. Thank you Chicago Civil Rights Lawyers.
Indiana has some of the nation’s harshest voting restrictions. Recently, state lawmakers proposed erecting another barrier by requiring eligible voters to bring proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
Non-citizens are already kept off the voter rolls through existing protections, which have made instances of illegal voting vanishingly rare in Indiana and across the nation. The proof-of-citizenship provision that had been proposed in Senate Bill 353 would only serve to further disenfranchise and intimidate eligible voters, particularly citizens of color.
On February 15, our Senior Counsel Ami Gandhi submitted testimony to the Indiana State Elections Committee urging lawmakers to reject the proof of citizenship requirement in Senate Bill 353. The requirement was stripped from the bill because of constitutional concerns raised by advocates.
Read Ami Gandhi’s testimony below or click here to download it:
My name is Ami Gandhi and I am a Senior Counsel at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that has been working for the past 50 years to advance racial equity and economic opportunity for all. The right to vote is fundamental to a healthy democracy. Our voting rights practice area was established to reduce barriers to voting and civic participation, especially in communities of color and low-income communities, to ensure that all eligible voters are able to cast ballots and make their voices heard. I lead our organization’s efforts to protect voting rights in Illinois and Indiana, and I reside in Indiana. Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights submits this testimony today in opposition to Indiana Senate Bill 353, which requires documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee’s work puts us in a unique position to understand voter access barriers from the point of view of the voter. A major component of our work is Election Protection, the nation’s largest non-partisan voter protection program, which operates the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline and supports companion lines at 888-VE-Y-VOTA, 888-API-VOTE, and 844-YALLAUS. Our staff and pro bono volunteers answer calls from Illinois and Indiana and have answered thousands of voter questions. Hoosiers called us in record breaking numbers during the 2020 primary and general elections, with many of them experiencing unfair barriers to registering and voting. We are proud to work with Common Cause Indiana, the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP, and national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on a number of initiatives to strengthen voter access, including litigation challenging Indiana state laws that undermine the fundamental right to vote.
Senate Bill 353 would block registration of eligible voters in violation of the United States Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act. Courts have struck down proof of citizenship laws in Kansas and other states. Requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration will disenfranchise many eligible voters, including Black, Latino, and Asian American citizens. Seniors and low-wealth community members of all racial backgrounds and political parties would also be unduly burdened by having to track down and pay for the citizenship documents called for in the bill.
Senate Bill 353 would worsen already existing racial disparities in voter registration access. Adding onerous and unfair steps to voter registration is a modern-day form of a poll tax or literacy test. This bill would invite illegal racial profiling and discrimination by state and local election authorities and other charged with administering our elections. If documentary proof of citizenship were required, voters who are perceived to be “foreign” would especially be at risk of being unfairly taken off the voter rolls. Voter registration drives in all Indiana communities would be made unreasonably difficult.
This bill is a solution in search of a problem. The facts show in Indiana and across the nation that voter fraud occurs at an exceedingly low rate, given the existing protections to keep non-citizens off voter rolls. Our immigrant communities are well aware of the grave repercussions for noncitizens who vote and have no interest in illegal voting or registration.
Throughout our history and unfortunately still today, rhetoric about voter fraud has been used to disenfranchise and intimidate eligible voters, particularly citizens of color. Given the violent events at the United States Capitol on January 6 and the danger caused by efforts to discredit American elections, this is a frightening moment for the Indiana legislature to perpetuate myths of widespread voter fraud.
Indiana should be tearing down barriers to voting, not erecting new ones. We need more, not fewer, citizens to take an interest in registration and voting. The time is ripe to improve election administration, but this bill would do the opposite. Those states that are legitimately working to improve election administration have been taking actions to make voter registration more fair, accurate, and streamlined. Instead, Senate Bill 353 would take Indiana a big step backward.
As an experienced voting rights and civil rights attorney, a resident of Indiana, and the daughter of immigrants, I am deeply concerned about the disenfranchisement that Senate Bill 353 would cause. Such policies send a message to immigrant citizens and citizens of color – a message that we don’t belong in Indiana. The Indiana Senate Elections Committee should reject the proof of citizenship requirement in Senate Bill 353. Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony today.February 17, 2021
SB353
Citations Affected: IC 3-6; IC 3-11; IC 10-14.
Synopsis: Various election law matters. Prohibits the Indiana election commission from: (1) instituting, increasing, or expanding vote by mail or absentee vote by mail; and (2) changing the time, place, or manner of holding an election. Prohibits a person from providing an absentee ballot application with the driver’s license number or last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number already printed on the form. Requires an applicant for an absentee ballot application to include the driver’s license number or last four digits of the individual’s Social Security number. Prohibits the governor from changing, during a declared disaster emergency, the time, place, or manner of holding an election.
Effective: July 1, 2021.
