INDIANAPOLIS– Members from more than a dozen organizations will head to the State House on Wednesday, February 12, to lobby their legislators on various voting and election bills moving through the Indiana General Assembly. Leaders of several of those organizations will give Hoosier legislators a report card that tracks their work to respond to the Indiana voter turnout crisis. Last year, the Indiana Civic Health Index revealed that voter turnout in Indiana ranked next to last for all states in 2022.
WHAT: Democracy Day press conference and lobby day.
WHO: Common Cause Indiana and other democratic groups
WHEN: Wednesday, February 12 at 9:45 am
WHERE: Indiana State Library (315 W. Ohio St.), Indianapolis
Organization leaders will discuss the lack of pro-democracy legislation up to this point in the state’s legislative session and the many anti-voter bills that are advancing as the legislature reaches its midpoint.
Advocates will discuss the anti-democracy agenda from the Republican supermajority and give them a failing report card for their stewardship of democracy in our state. Specifically, they will discuss the legislature’s plans to:
- Ban students from using their state university ID to vote;
- Further, scrutinize the voter registrations of naturalized citizens;
- Reduce voter registration at the BMV, increase voter purges;
- Shorten the early voting period;
- Close Indiana primaries and require school board candidates to declare a political party to run.
Common Cause Indiana, Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, 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 will participate in a press conference and lobby day at the Capitol.
“A failing grade is always cause for concern, 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 backward, ” said Julia Vaughn, Executive Director of Common Cause Indiana.
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