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Indiana’s early voting period would be cut from 28 days to 16 days in a year-old push revived by Republican state senators.
The proposal for fewer early voting days was added Monday by the Senate Elections Committee through an amendment; no public testimony was allowed.
Committee Chair Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, said the change he proposed would still allow for three weekends of in-person early voting ahead of Election Day.
“A shorter amount of time for early voting will save money and also make it easier to administer the election,” Gaskill said.
Fewer days proposal criticized
Democratic senators and voting-rights advocates berated the proposal as one that would mean longer lines for people wanting to cast their ballots early and hurt Indiana’s already low voter turnout.
Of the 1.4 million early ballots cast in the 2024 general election, about 300,000 came during the days proposed for elimination, said Sen. J.D. Ford, D-Indianapolis.
“I think this is going to increase those lines and put some really heavy burdens on our (county) clerks,” Ford said. “Essentially this is going to take away from working-class folks who need that time because they might have an inflexible work schedule or caregiving responsibilities or even transportation issues.”
The early voting change was inserted into Senate Bill 1359, which was focused on rules for when local election officials could scan early voting ballots. The committee voted 7-2 along party lines to advance it to the full Senate.
Gaskill didn’t allow any public testimony on the amendment, saying the committee had heard from the public about shortening the time for early voting when it considered a similar bill last year.
That 2025 proposal called for a 14-day early voting period. It cleared the Senate Elections Committee but never was called for a full Senate vote because it did not have enough support to pass.
Proposal called ‘sneak attack’
Julia Vaughn, executive director of the voting-rights group Common Cause Indiana, said she was “extremely disappointed that such a major policy change was made with no opportunity for public comment.”
“This is a sneak attack on early voting and I urge voters to tell their senator to vote no,” Vaughn told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The bill cleared the House last month, so if the early voting change wins Senate approval it could become law without any public testimony on the issue during this year’s session.
Gaskill called his proposal for a 16-day early voting period a compromise from last year’s 14-day proposal.
“It did have testimony last year, quite a bit in this committee,” Gaskill said after Monday’s meeting. “So it’s not like we’re bringing a topic out of nowhere that’s never been discussed before. It was vetted quite at length last year.”
Gaskill cited criticism raised by other Republican legislators about Indiana having an “election month rather than an Election Day.” He said the change would shift Indiana from having one of the country’s longest early voting periods to being in the middle range.
“I’m of the opinion that the shorter period is a compromise between folks that do have concerns about election integrity with a longer period of early voting,” Gaskill said. “It still puts us kind of in the middle of the pack of what other states do.”
According to MAP, an independent think tank, 14 states have early voting lasting more than 22 days. Another eight states range between 15-21 days of early voting. Twenty-two states are between 7-14 days.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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