Federal judge dismisses lawsuit challenging Indiana’s new proof of citizenship requirement

By Jacob Knutson

Voters casting their ballots at a polling place in May 2016 in Fowler, Indiana. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Voters casting their ballots at a polling place in May 2016 in Fowler, Indiana. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

In a loss for voters, a federal judge dismissed a voting rights lawsuit challenging two Indiana laws that require certain people to provide proof of citizenship to register, or remain registered, to vote.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brookman, a nominee of former President Joe Biden, said in an order Thursday that four voter advocacy organizations lacked standing to challenge the laws, which took effect last year.

One of the laws directed Indiana’s Election Division to compare the state’s voter registration list with Bureau of Motor Vehicles records to identify voters who were issued temporary ID numbers when they were noncitizens and require them to submit proof of citizenship within 30 days or face removal from the rolls.

The second law imposed similar requirements on new registrants who provide temporary ID numbers on their applications.

The League of Women Voters of Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, Hoosier Asian American Power and Exodus Refugee Immigration alleged in their suit against Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales (R) and other state election officials that the laws create a two-tiered voter registration system that places heightened burdens on naturalized citizens.

The organizations also said the laws rely on “stale, error-ridden data” that will incorrectly require U.S. citizens to produce documentary proof of citizenship.

“As a result, these laws risk disenfranchising eligible Hoosier voters,” the organizations alleged.

In his order, Brookman dismissed the suit while finding that the organizations themselves were not directly harmed by the new laws.

“The statutes’ challengers … are of course not naturalized or derived citizens harmed by the new requirements but rather four organizations dedicated to protecting and expanding voting and other civil rights, ‘upholding the core values of American democracy,’ educating and mobilizing Asian American voters, and serving immigrants in Indiana, respectively,” Brookman wrote.

The judge added that it was “curious” that the suit did not include a plaintiff affected by the law, as the organizations gave the court declarations from four people who were.

Brookman gave the organizations 28 days to file an amended complaint if they wish to continue challenging the laws.