Amend HB 1311 Or Let It Die

   Amend HB 1311 Or Let It Die

written by Gail Riecken, CCO Statehouse Editor

HB 1311 is one of the elections bills that shouldn’t become law, but might.

Still, in committee, the bill changes the deadline for absentee ballots to be received by the Clerk’s office. The bill says applications for absentee ballots must be received no later than 11:59 pm 12 days before the date of an election. Under current law, the deadline is 8 days

The Statehouse File writes that those supporting the bill want to make sure the Clerk has enough time to process an absentee ballot application. That is critical. But this bill addressing the process raises more questions than offers a solution

Is mail delivery really the problem or does the Clerk need to hire more staff? Is this bill a solution to a rural problem and not an urban problem, or vice-versa, and are there better solutions for each area the Committee should consider?

The Committee just doesn’t have enough information.  When there isn’t a specific analysis of all the factors affecting absentee voting, making changes could negatively impact some voters. The example was given by one Committee member: “Anyone who works is being asked to predict if they are going to be working 12 hours on Election Day. That doesn’t make sense to me.”

One or two hearings in Indianapolis is not enough to pass this bill.

When the chairman of the Elections Committee says he is philosophically opposed to absentee ballots, his Committee shouldn’t be making legislative decisions about absentee ballots. As quoted in the Statehouse File, the chair said: “Absentee voting should frankly be discouraged, although allowed.”

That one opinion is a signal to me the legislature had better take any issue of absentee voting off the political table right now. This isn’t personal. A chairman is a good man, but his prejudice is dangerous to my Constitutional right to vote— and, incidentally, a strong reason that gerrymandering should be ended in Indiana.

Voters deserve an independent evaluation of our voting access system in Indiana. We need to answer the question “How can we get more people to vote, not further restrict their right to vote”.

Access to voting was such a concern by scientists from the University of Northern Illinois that they created a study to learn how each state stands.

In 2018 the University released the study. Each state was analyzed relative to 33 different variables dealing with registration and voting laws. In that study, Indiana is ranked about as low as you can imagine, 47th.
https://newsroom.niu.edu/2018/09/25/new-study-scrutinizes-time-and-effort-it-takes-to-vote-in-each-state/

Indiana should do its own study. We should evaluate our own system’s ability to get people voting. It should be a comprehensive study of the needs of voters, encouraging them to vote. There is time for the Elections Committee to consider such an amendment to HB 1311. Then, it should pass. HB 1311 is on the Elections Committee agenda for February 7. It isn’t too late to amend.