Hoosier State Today

Members from over a dozen organizations are set to converge at the Indiana State House on Wednesday, February 12. Their aim is to lobby legislators on various voting and election bills currently under consideration by the Indiana General Assembly. Leaders of these organizations plan to present a report card evaluating the legislature's response to what they describe as a crisis in voter turnout in Indiana. According to last year's Indiana Civic Health Index, the state ranked second to last for voter turnout among all states in 2022.

The organization leaders will address the perceived lack of pro-democracy legislation so far this session and express concern about several anti-voter bills advancing as the legislative session reaches its midpoint. Advocates intend to critique what they call an anti-democracy agenda from the Republican supermajority, issuing them a failing grade for their handling of democracy in Indiana.

Key issues on their agenda include proposed measures that would ban students from using their state university IDs to vote, increase scrutiny of naturalized citizens' voter registrations, reduce voter registration opportunities at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), heighten voter purges, shorten early voting periods, close primaries, and require school board candidates to declare a political party affiliation.

Several organizations will participate in a press conference and lobbying activities at the Capitol. These include Common Cause Indiana, League of Women Voters of Indiana, Earth Charter Indiana, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Stand Up Indiana, Indiana Friends Committee on Legislation, Planned Parenthood, Women on a Mission, Civic Impact Network, Hoosier Asian American Power, Count Us Indiana, ACLU Indiana and Women 4 Change.

"A failing grade is always cause for concern," said Julia Vaughn, Executive Director of Common Cause Indiana. "But we hope that legislators will realize they still have time to raise their grade and do better by Hoosier voters. We’re hoping they hear this message loud and clear – Indiana is already failing on pro-democracy laws and the laws they’ve proposed this year will make it worse. There’s still time to rise back up the rankings, but we’ve got to stop going backwards."

The event details are as follows:

- What: Democracy Day press conference and lobby day

- Who: Common Cause Indiana and other democracy groups

- When: Wednesday, February 12 at 9:45 am

- Where: Indiana State Library (315 W. Ohio St.), Indianapolis