Voter Roll Cleanup Bill Shouldn't Impact Ongoing Lawsuit

Indiana lawmakers may codify some existing practices when it comes to cleaning up the state’s voter rolls. And legislation unanimously approved by a Senate committee Monday deals with a part of Indiana law that’s subject to a pending lawsuit.

Indiana uses a multi-state database to find voters who’ve moved. If the Indiana voter’s name and birth date match another state’s records, the state digs further, looking at information such as Social Security number and zip code.

If enough of that information matches, the county checks whether the flagged voters registered in another state after their Indiana registration – and if so, deletes them from the rolls.

Current law only requires the state to make that first match, based on name and birth date. The other checks are standard practice, but not required. Rep. Kathy Richardson (R-Noblesville) says her bill would change that.

“So that it wasn’t a judgment call from time to time, that way everyone knew what we were doing,” Richardson says.

A lawsuit in federal court argues counties can’t delete registration without contacting voters first.

Richardson says her bill doesn’t impact the lawsuit.