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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to a Republican-backed proposal that would require voters to submit more identification information to obtain mail-in ballots, rejecting arguments that the tougher rules would make voting more difficult for many people.
Indiana House members voted 64-30 along party lines in favor of the bill previously endorsed by the Senate. The vote sends the bill to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb for his consideration.
Approval of the tighter mail-in voting rules comes after previous attempts failed the past two years in the Republican-dominated Legislature, even as former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters pushed claims that fraud led to his 2020 election defeat.
The bill which would require Indiana voters submitting a paper application for a mail ballot to include a photocopy of a government-issued identification card or at least two ID numbers, such as their 10-digit driver’s license or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Bill sponsor Republican Rep. Tim Wesco of Osceola has maintained the step was aimed at increasing voter confidence in elections by putting identification requirements for mail-in ballots in line with those for in-person voting.
The changes would take effect July 1 and be required for mail-in ballots cast in this fall’s city and town elections around the state.
Democratic Rep. Tonya Pfaff of Terre Haute said she believed it was “unnecessary to make it more difficult” for older voters and those in the military to cast ballots by mail.
“It won’t make elections safer and only serves to hamper democracy,” Pfaff said.
Voting rights groups argued that the stricter ID requirements aren’t necessary because county election workers already must confirm that a person’s signature on an application matches their voter registration record. Those groups unsuccessfully pushed, instead, for lifting the state’s restrictions on who may cast mail-in ballots as a way of improving Indiana’s low voter turnout rates.
Opponents said they believed the changes would increase the chances for “voters to be tripped up because of a bureaucratic problem.”
Some who testified before lawmakers in support of the bill argued that the current signature matching process is not stringent enough and that voters are “screaming” for tighter rules around mail voting.
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An absolute joke. A solution in search of a problem. Republicans need less people to vote, especially non-white ones. Chalk one up for the bad guys!
ROWR goes the ballot harvesting fraud machine. Democrats, terrified that they’re losing their stranglehold over non-white voters as they grow increasingly hostile to populism, must resort to other tools that evoke their great history and undeniable skill at rigging: inverted Jim Crow (fraud instead of obstruction), Tammany Hall style mafia intimidation, the tried-and-true dead voters themselves, or a literal machine (Dominion).
Yawn. Go one about those Dominion machines, Lauren. Remind me, how many votes did Arizona Republicans find?
(They found votes for Joe Biden)
Myself, I’ll be more worried about Diego Morales, he of the nepotism, administrating our upcoming elections after using our tax dollars to attend secret events put on by the Heritage Foundation.
Dark money groups push election denialism on US state officials
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/05/heritage-foundation-election-voting-rights-republican-states
I know, it’s the Guardian. You hate them. But, riddle me this. If Democrats are terrified at losing their grip on people, why is it Republicans are the ones making it harder to vote? Wouldn’t they want to make it easier for them to flee the Democrats? Why make it harder?
In the dark back rooms few will ever enter, the GOP has been worried about the coming demographic shifts in this country for some time. Obama was just the red alarm warning that they had been waiting for and Trump is representative of the reaction to that reality.
The only way out of this while keeping power is to either change, or start a bent toward fascism and authoritarianism. Undermining faith in elections is a way to overturn results they do not like based on “facts” that do not exist. They strong armed themselves into a SC seat based on a precedent that does not exist because legislating from the courts is a part of the long term strategy. (Even though conservatives falsely claim to be beholden to separation of powers and the founding fathers principles). Democracy used to be a cornerstone of what made the US, the US. Now it’s just a political position as it becomes very inconvenient for one side.
Abortion will be a telling issue going forward. The changes to RvW are hugely unpopular it turns out and the voters are showing up to display that displeasure. We were always told that it was about returning power to the states, it turns out that was not the case at all. As they continue to feel the effects will the policy change be to moderate their positions into one that shows more compassion/reason, or will they double down and treat the voters as more of an inconvenience that need to be silenced. My money would be on the latter.
The Dems just fear mongering as usual.
Remember the Georgia Voting Bill that had all the Dems shreiking
like their hair is on fire. A big nothing burger. Not one person
was kept from voting. Not one! Black voting was at an all time time
in actual numbers and percentages.
So if Dems think that they an only win by catering to minorities and the
ever changing demographics, Then no wonder they won’t secure the border.
Lol…..