Indiana attorney general, secretary of state sue feds in push for voter citizenship verification

Two Indiana statewide elected officials filed a lawsuit Friday against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, months after they first urged the federal agency to verify the citizenship of more than 585,000 registered Hoosier voters. 

In October, Secretary of State Diego Morales and Attorney General Todd Rokita petitioned the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) — which is housed within the homeland security agency — to review lists of voters who registered without providing a state-issued form of identification.

Federal officials “have failed to provide information that would enable Indiana to verify that only eligible voters participated in elections,” Morales’ and Rokita’s offices alleged in news releases Monday.

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There is no evidence of widespread noncitizen voter fraud. It is illegal under both state and federal law to cast a ballot as a noncitizen.

“Following the Biden administration’s obstruction here, I expect that President (Donald) Trump’s team will resolve this matter,” Rokita said in the release. “This lawsuit is another important step in ensuring the integrity of our elections. Hoosiers have a right to know that legitimate ballots are not being diluted by noncitizens. I promised that I would get citizenship information from USCIS, and that is exactly what I am doing by filing this suit.”  

Though Trump took office in January, his administration has also declined to respond to Indiana’s request. Over a dozen other states have filed similar missives. 

The 585,774 Hoosiers from the Oct. 11 letter include those who registered without an Indiana driver’s license number or a social security number — or who live overseas. Some of those could include Hoosiers who registered before those numbers were required. 

It represents roughly 12% of the registered voters for the November election. 

But critics pushed back, saying that the USCIS Person Centric Query Service wasn’t designed to process large numbers of voters and could be prone to error.

In a statement to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Common Cause Indiana Executive Director Julia Vaughn said Hoosiers deserve better. 

Indiana officials ask federal government to verify citizenship of 585K registered voters

“It is shameful that the Attorney General and Secretary of State continue to put partisan games at the forefront of their job responsibilities. Indiana elections are, and always have been, safe and secure. This is just another attempt to spread misinformation about voting and at the same time, intimidate naturalized citizens from exercising their rights. Hoosiers deserve better than this waste of taxpayer dollars wrapped up in an unnecessary lawsuit,” Vaughn said.

The Department of Homeland Security does offer access to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, which requires an identifier such as a registration number, which makes it “not suited” for verification, according to the lawsuit. 

In October, Morales told the Capital Chronicle that the verification push stemmed from county-level officials concerned about an uptick in absentee ballot requests for overseas voters — Hoosiers living abroad, including those in the military, vote using absentee ballots.

“As Indiana’s Chief Election Officer, ensuring the integrity of our elections is non-negotiable,” Morales said in the Monday release. “This legal action is a continuation of our efforts for Indiana to lead the way in election integrity. Since we never received a response from the Biden administration, we know that under President Trump’s leadership and based on his recent Executive Order, there’s a stronger commitment to the election process. Hoosiers deserve nothing less than full confidence in the security of their vote.”

It’s unclear what executive order Morales referenced, though a breakdown of election-oriented proclamations by the Brennan Center for Justice includes an overhaul that the left-leaning group said was illegal. 

In particular, Trump’s actions align with the Congressional SAVE Act, which some have worried would disenfranchise married women who changed their last names but might not have matching documentation. Under SAVE, individuals must present a passport, birth certificate or other citizenship documentation when registering.