Voter participation in Indiana’s fall election was 51 percent, the first time since 1994 that the state topped 50 percent in a midterm election. Henry County had the highest turnout in Indiana with 64 percent of registered voters casting a ballot, while Vigo and Madison counties had the lowest turnout at 44 percent of registered voters.
On an election night in which Democrats took control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Republicans appeared to tighten their hold on the Senate, Indiana stayed reliably red, with Republicans winning seven of nine House seats and challenger Mike Braun defeating incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly. But in one of the biggest Election Day upsets, longtime Republican state Sen. Mike Delph lost the Statehouse seat he has held since 2005.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a decision granting summary judgment in favor of two companies who purchased real estate in a sale that was voided after the seller was found to have no authority to sell it.
Indiana’s top elections official is planning to use more than $7.5 million in federal funding to improve the state’s election security, but not to upgrade its voting machines. Indiana was among the states and territories to receive money from the $380 million approved by Congress amid ongoing threats from Russia and others.
After Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker on Thursday afternoon rejected his motion objecting to Marion County’s plan for early voting, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill turned to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hill is proceeding over the objection of Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, whose office is charged by law with election oversight.
A motion filed by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill to amend a consent decree establishing multiple early voting sites in Marion County for the upcoming November general election has been denied. Indiana Southern District Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker wrote the state’s objections have no merit.
In defending the Indiana Attorney General’s objection to an agreement about early voting, Indiana Solicitor General Thomas M. Fisher said the action is “rather routine” and the office would be submitting additional filings to the courts, including an appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The comments came two days after the attorney general filed a motion challenging the consent decree establishing five early voting sites in Marion County.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is hitting back at Secretary of State Connie Lawson for calling his actions “reckless” but is remaining quiet on the assertion that his motion to derail Marion County’s plan to expand early voting is “premised on a fundamental factual misrepresentation.”
Opposition is rising to embattled Attorney General Curtis Hill’s move to block expanded early voting in Marion County, with Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson calling Hill’s action “reckless” and urging him to drop the matter. Under state law, Lawson’s office is responsible for election oversight, and she said Hill did not consult her before going to court.
A constitutional challenge to Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson’s reelection bid failed Tuesday after the Indiana Election Commission agreed with a holistic reading of the state constitution. The challenge had argued Lawson is not eligible to run because, if reelected, she will be prohibited from completing a full term under Article 6, Section 2 of the Indiana Constitution.
Three public advocacy groups have temporarily stopped the enforcement of Indiana’s 2017 voter registration law, which could potentially purge eligible voters from the rolls without providing them written notice. Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state from implementing the 2017 version of Senate Enrolled Act 442.
Senate candidate Todd Rokita likely violated ethics laws as Indiana’s secretary of state by repeatedly accessing a Republican donor database from his government office, prompting party officials to lock him out of the system until he angrily complained, three former GOP officials told The Associated Press.
A cease and desist order has been issued against a company not licensed to sell insurance or conduct business in Indiana, according to the Indiana Department of Insurance.
The NAACP announced Thursday it has filed a second lawsuit against Indiana, challenging the state’s newly enacted voting law that allows for the removal of voters from the registration rolls without giving them notice or an opportunity to respond.
President Donald Trump's commission investigating alleged voter fraud in the 2016 elections has asked states for a list of the names, party affiliations, addresses and voting histories of all voters, if state law allows it to be public. Indiana and several other states have said they won't give data to the panel.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of claims against several Indiana state and county officials, finding that most of the claims failed due to the immunity provided to government employees in the scope of their employment.
With the fear of voter fraud through traditional and electronic methods spreading this election season, cybersecurity experts are telling voters that the risk of their personal information being stolen and used to manipulate the outcome of the election is small, but not nonexistent.
A Democratic-aligned group at the center of an Indiana investigation into possible voter fraud said Thursday it focused on registering black residents of Indiana because the state had the nation's lowest overall voter turnout in 2014.
After initially warning of potential widespread voting fraud, Indiana's secretary of state has acknowledged that many of the thousands of altered registration records she flagged might just be residents rushing to correct their names or birth dates ahead of the election.
Thousands of voter registrations were altered, raising concerns about possible fraud, says Indiana's chief elections official, whose office warned voters to check whether their information is correct online and encouraged voting early to avoid problems on Election Day.