Senate Scuttles Proposed Restrictions on Absentee Voting

(INDIANAPOLIS) – A Senate committee has unanimously rejected a House proposal to limit absentee voting.

Under current law, you can vote absentee if you’re going to be unavailable on Election Day. The House bill would have required you to be out of town for the entire four-week early voting period. Columbus Republican Greg Walker says even the current limit is unenforceable, and says making it harder to vote absentee wouldn’t do anything to make it more secure — he says those limitations only serve to confuse voters.

Walker notes Marion County has added bar code technology which allows election officials and voters to track which ballots have been sent out and which have been returned. He notes he’s proposed a universal vote-by-mail option in the past, and says if more counties follow Indy’s lead, he may propose it again.

Indiana allowed no-excuse absentee voting in the 2020 primary due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but returned to the current system for the general election.

The absentee voting restriction was the most controversial part of a 42-page package of adjustments and clarifications to voting law. The Senate Elections Committee stripped the provision on a voice vote. If the full Senate approves the bill, the House will have to decide whether to accept the changes or call for further negotiations on a final version.

Committee Democrats applauded the removal of the absentee voting limits, but still voted against the overall bill. Indianapolis Senator Fady Qaddoura says legislators shouldn’t be celebrating a simple return to the status quo, but working to make voting more accessible.

The bill requires counties to use voting machines which generate a paper confirmation of a voter’s choices in time for the 2024 election, five years earlier than the current deadline. The Senate version modifies that order, requiring that state or federal funding be available for the changeover first.

The bill would also require you to submit a driver’s license number or partial Social Security number to request an absentee ballot online. State election officials say that provision puts in state law what the secretary of state’s office is already doing.