Federal Judge Stops Indiana Voter Registration Removal By Crosscheck

The law would allow county clerks to kick voters off the registered voter rolls immediately and without notice if the voter - or at least somebody with the same name and date of birth - is registered in another state.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - Although the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision Monday allowing states to purge inactive voters from the voter registration rolls, a lower court had already dealt a blow to voter removal efforts in Indiana.

A U.S. District Court Judge Tonya Walton Pratt on Friday issued a preliminary injunction against allowing a new state law to go into effect.

The law would allow county clerks to kick voters off the registered voter rolls immediately and without notice if the voter is registered in another state. The processes utilizes a program called the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck, which looks for voter registrations between states with matching first and last names and dates of birth.

Common Cause Indiana along with the ACLU of Indiana, Demos, and law firm Davis Wright Tremaine sued to stop the law from going into effect July 1.

“Crosscheck system has inherent flaws and limitations, which makes it an unreliable source on which to base voter registration cancellations without further investigation,” Walton Pratt wrote in the injunction order, adding that the implementation of the law would likely not be uniform.

Critics of the law said voter registrations can only be removed if the they confirm a change of address or the voter has been inactive and failed to respond to mailed notices from election officials.

“Hoosier-elected officials should do all that they can to promote voter engagement,” said Jane Henegar, executive director of the ACLU of Indiana. “Today’s ruling condemns actions to the contrary that threaten to suppress the vote. Voting is our constitutional right and we must ensure every voice is heard.”

Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson said she disagrees with the ruling and there’s no reason to think that maintaining the list is political in nature. She added that no one has been removed from Indiana’s voter registration list who should not have been. 

The ruling given Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court on a separate case out of Ohio affirmed that states can purge their voter registration lists in cases where individuals have not cast ballots in a while. The 5-4 vote was split among conservative and liberal justices.