Indiana Officials Ask Federal Government To Verify Citizenship Of 585K Registered Voters
Secretary of State Diego Morales meets with youth at the Indiana State Fair on Aug. 2. Photo by Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle.
By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz and Whitney Downard
Indiana Capital Chronicle
INDIANA — Two of Indiana’s top elected leaders recently announced they’ve requested federal aid in scrutinizing the citizenship status of more than 585,000 registered Hoosier voters — more than one in 10 residents on the voter rolls.
The effort echoes similar attempts in other states to purge voter rolls — several of which have run afoul of a federal deadline intended to protect eligible voters.
The Oct. 11 letter was sent after Indiana’s Oct. 7 voter registration deadline, and when Election Day was about three weeks away. Accordingly, the letter noted, “We are thus at a critical juncture in this election cycle when verifying the integrity of Indiana’s voter rolls is of acute importance.”
The letter, addressed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou, asks the agency to use its “Person Centric Query Service” to verify a list of names and dates of birth.
The list of 585,774 includes those who registered without an Indiana driver’s license number or a social security number — or who live overseas.
Indiana has 4,836,973 residents registered to vote, so the letter invites scrutiny of about 12% on the rolls.
“A fair and secure election process begins with accurate voter information,” Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales said. “As Indiana’s Chief Election Officer, I am committed to ensuring that every registered voter in Indiana has met the legal requirements, including being a U.S. citizen.”
Morales, also a Republican, dubbed the letter “proactive steps to gather missing information for those who completed their registration without a state-issued ID.”
The move comes after a federal deadline to protect the voter rolls, though.
Several U.S. states, largely GOP-led, have cracked down on alleged non-citizen voting. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, sent Jaddou a similar letter, also on Oct. 7.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Morales wrote that USCIS is required, under federal law, to reply to state inquiries “to verify or ascertain the citizenship or immigration status of any individual within the jurisdiction of the agency for any purpose authorized by law.”
The pair also warned Jaddou that USCIS is barred from restricting the flow of any citizenship or immigration status information to other government entities or officials.
Following questions from the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Morales said the office was “responding to concerns from county clerks regarding the increase of absentee ballots from overseas voters…”
Morales said that if USCIS identified a non-citizen registered to vote, that information would be passed along to local election officials — who can decide whether to pursue additional action, including challenging voters at the polls.
Opponents React
Voter rights advocates denounced the letter.
The Indiana Democratic Party said the move could decrease election confidence.
Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell, a Democrat, said her office and others across Indiana are upholding state and federal laws that ban non-citizen voting.
Indiana also has a law on the books that requires voters to show ID before voting.
Federal Deadline Could Complicate Letter’s Aim
It’s unclear what action Hoosier officials could take so close to the election.
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 requires states to finish voter roll maintenance at least 90 days ahead of federal elections. That would’ve set an Aug. 7 deadline.
But that’s the day Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring “Daily Updates to the Voter List.” The state’s election agency was tasked with comparing the list of people identified as non-citizens by the motor vehicle agency to the list of registered voters, then giving matches 14 days to prove their citizenship before being removed from the rolls.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday, Oct. 18, announced it’s suing Virginia for violating the law, noting that systematic removal programs may be “error-ridden” — and could remove eligible voters without leaving them enough time to get back on the rolls.
Youngkin fired back, calling the lawsuit “unprecedented” and a “desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy” of Virginia’s elections in a statement Friday.
Youngkin, a Republican, said he was “appropriately enforcing” a 2006 law signed by Democrat former Gov. Tim Kaine that requires non-citizen voter roll purges.
Voter and immigrant rights groups have also sued, WRIC reported.
Virginia isn’t the only state finding itself in hot water.
A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Alabama’s voter removal program in a lawsuit led by the DOJ and civil rights groups, the Alabama Reflector reported.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, a Republican, announced a process for purging certain registered voters 84 days before the election. He took aim at 3,251 residents who had been issued non-citizen identification numbers, and referred them to Alabama’s attorney general for criminal investigation. Some of them may be naturalized and therefore eligible to vote, according to the Reflector.
Judge Anna Manasco — nominated by former President Donald Trump — wrote that Allen “blew through the deadline” and knocked him for using a methodology that could ensnare U.S. citizens.
Oregon’s governor and top elections official — both Democrats — called this month for an independent, external audit of the state’s automatic voter registration system, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported. Oregon has identified about 1,500 people who were incorrectly registered to vote through the state’s motor vehicle agency.
Two lawsuits alleging Wisconsin’s voter rolls contain more than 100,000 potentially invalid registrations were filed in late September and early October, the Wisconsin Public Radio reported — also after the 90-day deadline.
Numerous ballot measures this November would bar noncitizens from voting in Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
Rokita is also pressing federal authorities in another letter to provide a plan for how they will verify voters’ U.S. citizenship status in response to state requests, according to the news release. Ohio and South Carolina are leading the multi-state coalition.
Morales’ office, meanwhile, is delivering “Vote Here” polling signage to county clerks offices around the state, according to an email obtained by the Capital Chronicle.
The signs will “clearly state” that only U.S. citizens can vote and that valid photo identification is required, according to Election Director Dustin Renner.
