Voting & Elections

Voting and Covid 19

Common Cause Indiana has been working hard to ensure that Hoosiers won’t have to choose between protecting their health and casting their ballot because of the COVID 19 pandemic. We’ve joined with other advocates to pressure the Governor, Secretary of State and Indiana Election Commission to loosen the rules for absentee voting by mail to ensure that all Hoosiers can vote safely this year. Read our letter to the Indiana Election Commission and related press release.

Common Cause Indiana Goes to Court to Protect Voting Rights

While Common Cause Indiana is working to pass common sense voting reforms such as Election Day voter registration and vote by mail in the General Assembly, unfortunately these kind of pro-voter reforms haven’t gotten a warm reception at the legislature. So, Common Cause Indiana has gone to court to protect the rights of Hoosier voters and we’ve been successful in two important cases.

Common Cause Indiana vs. Marion County Election Board

In this case, one member of the Marion County Election Board was blocking the implementation of satellite voting in Indianapolis, simply for partisan reasons. This meant that the largest county in the state had the fewest early voting options. CCIN teamed up with election law attorney Bill Groth to challenge the law as applied in Marion County and federal judge Sarah Evans Barker ruled in our favor, issuing a consent decree that ordered the county to make satellite voting available for the 2016 election. To read the final decision in the case, click here.

Common Cause Indiana vs. Lawson

In 2017 the General Assembly passed, over our objections, Senate Enrolled Act 442, which allowed counties to remove voters from the rolls without the notice and waiting period required under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Common Cause Indiana filed a lawsuit to prevent the new law from being implemented and federal judge Tonya Walton Pratt issued a preliminary injunction in June of 2017; the injunction was upheld by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019. The case has been stayed by Judge Walton Pratt, pending the passage of a new law to “fix” the offending statute. For more information, read the 7th Circuit decision here.

Common Cause Indiana vs. Lawson et. al.

In the spring of 2019 Common Cause Indiana filed this lawsuit to stop untrained poll workers from rejecting mail-in ballots because of perceived signature mismatches. Our research indicates hundreds, and possibly thousands of Hoosiers, many of them disabled or senior citizens, have had their ballots thrown out for this reason. What’s worse is that the counties are not required to contact the voter and give them the chance to fix the problem. We expect this case to be decided later in 2020, you can read our argument here.