Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales are suing the Trump administration over citizenship information.
The lawsuit stems from a request last fall that the federal government verify the citizenship of more than half a million voters.
The more than 585,000 registered voters Morales and Rokita first raised questions about in October fall into three categories: Those who registered without providing a driver’s license number or Social Security number; registered voters located overseas; and those who registered simply without a driver’s license number.
Under federal and state law, you can register to vote using a paper form without having a driver’s license or Social Security number. Many of those who did are older Hoosiers. And many voters located overseas are members of the military.
Join the conversation and sign up for the Indiana Two-Way. Text "Indiana" to 765-275-1120. Your comments and questions in response to our weekly text help us find the answers you need on statewide issues.
Rokita and Morales said they haven’t received a response from the federal government, prompting the lawsuit to compel the citizenship verification the Indiana officials have requested.
In a statement, Rokita and Morales said the request is about ensuring election integrity and that they expect the Trump administration to cooperate.
Voter advocacy groups criticized the original letter in October, saying there’s no basis to suspect Indiana’s voter rolls are full of non-citizens.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.