Civic groups say the votes of naturalized Hoosiers could be at risk amid the state’s election integrity campaign targeting those with temporary credential numbers in their voter registrations.
“Our understanding is that many United States citizens have been and continue to be erroneously flagged as noncitizens through this process,” said Ami Gandhi, the director of Midwest voting rights programs for the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
“And as a result, many of these eligible voters are likely to be disenfranchised in the upcoming election,” Gandhi added.
People with temporary lawful status can obtain temporary learner’s permits, driver’s licenses or ID cards using valid visas, asylum applications, temporary protected status applications, conditional permanent residency and other documents.
The credentials can remain valid for up to six years, even if a person’s citizenship status changes.
“Federal and state law do not require Hoosiers who obtain a temporary driver’s license or identification card and who subsequently become U.S. citizens to update their credentials based on their change in citizenship status, or to notify the (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) when they gain citizenship,” Gandhi said.
A recent state law takes aim at those who weren’t born U.S. citizens.
House Enrolled Act 1680, approved in 2025, requires county voter registration officials to request proof of citizenship from everyone who uses a number from one of those temporary credentials as part of their voter registration application.
People who receive a notice have 30 days to provide proof — a birth certificate, U.S. passport, naturalization documentation, and so on — before their voter registration is canceled.
In a video posted in February, Secretary of State Diego Morales pointed to a man — accused of being in the country illegally — who was allegedly responsible for a fatal Hendricks County vehicle crash that month.
Before the law took effect last July, “an individual like this … could have registered to vote in Indiana,” said Morales, the state’s chief elections officer. “All he would have needed was a driver’s license number and to check a box on a form claiming he was a US citizen. That’s it.”
But voters’ rights advocates say the law could entangle naturalized citizens — and potentially derived citizens, the children of naturalized parents who seek citizenship themselves.
Gandhi’s organization filed a lawsuit last year in the U.S. District Court for Indiana’s Southern District on behalf of three nonpartisan civic groups: the League of Women Voters of Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, Hoosier Asian American Power and Exodus Refugee Immigration.
“We are still determining the number of affected voters and some of the information provided by the state of Indiana has been unclear or contradictory,” Gandhi said.
The Secretary of State’s Office referred questions — including about the number of people impacted — to the Indiana Election Division, which did not respond.
It’s the first election in which House Enrolled Act 1680 has been in effect.
The newer statute couples with a 2024 law, House Enrolled Act 1264, that requires state election officials to compare the BMV’s list of temporary credentials against the statewide voter registration system.
“If evidence exists” that someone isn’t a U.S. citizen, state officials must notify the county in which that person is registered. They’d similarly get a request to provide proof of citizenship within 30 days.
But those who first registered to vote on April 6, the last possible day, won’t have had the full 30 days — or any other wiggle room — to give proof before Election Day on May 5.
Gandhi said advocates are concerned about the timing, adding, “The timelines laid out in these laws leave a margin for error and potential disenfranchisement.”
Civic groups have encouraged Hoosiers to confirm their voter registration status and not ignore any notices.
County clerks said they’re acting in line with the law.
“Association leadership is confident that our members continue to process these matters in accordance with the rules, requirements, and guidelines established in state law, as well as the procedures provided by the State,” said Lisa Lofgreen, president of the Association of the Clerks of Circuit Courts of Indiana.
“Our commitment is to ensure that all actions are carried out accurately, consistently, and in full compliance with the governing standards,” said Lofgreen, who also serves as the Hancock County Clerk.
Proposed federal legislation would require proof of citizenship for voter registration nationwide. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, passed the U.S. House in February but hasn’t yet gotten through the U.S. Senate.
“The SAVE America Act helps ensure standards are upheld nationwide,” Morales said in a March video. “This is common sense. Now it’s time for the Senate to act.”
Other complications have arisen as well.
Electronic poll books have frozen or locked up when flagging voters who still require residency verification, Indy Politics has reported.
Indiana Election Division Co-General Counsel Valerie Warycha and former Secretary of State Connie Lawson accused Morales of “fail(ing) to communicate vital law changes to our ePollbook vendors” in a letter to election administrators this week.
“When the systems inevitably faltered, it was the taxpayers who were left to foot the bill for emergency repairs just weeks before the May primary,” the pair wrote. “The resulting ‘quick fix’ forced a return to manual residency checks — an outdated process that unnecessarily increases the risk of error and fraud.”
Warycha, a Republican who supports GOP Secretary of State challenger David Shelton, plans to resign the day after the primary election.
Secretary of State spokeswoman Lindsey Eaton said the office is “unaware of any issues reported from any counties with electronic poll book usage commencing with last week’s start of early in-person absentee voting for the May Primary Election.”
Early voting began April 7.
“We encourage voters to not let the conditions in the current election discourage them from voting,” Gandhi said. “It is important for all eligible voters to have our voices heard in this election and every election.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Ami Gandhi’s last name.
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