Several Indiana voting rights organizations are suing the state over laws they say only target naturalized citizens. The lawsuit says two recent state laws violate federal voting protections.
The recent laws — HEA 1264-2024 and HEA 1680-2025 — mandate Hoosiers who had temporary credentials with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles prove their citizenship — or else have their voter registration deleted.
The lawsuit says those requirements violate federal legislation, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That's because the BMV's temporary credentials used in the crosscheck are only issued to noncitizens lawfully in the U.S. Advocates say the data is rarely updated and the timeline to provide proof is unreasonably short.
Melissa Borja is a co-founder of Hoosier Asian American Power, one of the groups involved in the lawsuit. She said the laws are "discriminatory and unfair."
"It really gets in the way of a lot of voters being able to do the most fundamental thing in this country — which is participate in our democracy," she said.
Borja said providing documents to prove citizenship can be difficult — and the state hasn't provided much guidance on what it needs.
"A lot of people can't easily gain access to their birth certificate or their naturalization document," Borja said.
After receiving notice, citizens only have 30 days to provide that proof to their county clerk's office before they're removed from voter rolls.
READ MORE: New Indiana law could delete Hoosiers' voter registration without proof of citizenship
Borja said it's especially concerning for her organization because the majority of Asian American voters are naturalized citizens.
"People might not have done anything wrong. But because of this requirement, it really can put a lot of people at risk of being removed from the voter rolls," she said.
Hoosier Asian American Power is joined in the lawsuit by League of Women Voters of Indiana, Common Cause Indiana and Exodus Refugee Immigration. The voting groups are represented by attorneys from the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Bowman Legal Services.
Lauren is our digital editor. Contact her at lauren@ipbnews.org or follow her on Bluesky at @laurenechapman.bsky.social.
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