Indiana's new voter purge law discriminates, lawsuit says

The Indiana NAACP and League of Women Voters want to stop the secretary of state from purging people from voter rolls in what the groups call "flagrant violations of federal law."

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, the groups say the state's new way to cross-check names on voter rolls violates federal law and is discriminatory.

“No Hoosier should be silenced on Election Day,” said Barbara Bolling-Williams, president of the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP. “Yet, under this new law, that will happen.”

At issue in the latest federal lawsuit filed against Secretary of State Connie Lawson is the new "Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck" system that allows election officials to immediately remove voters identified as having registered to vote in another state. The process finds a match based on first name, last name and date of birth.

The law, introduced as SB 442, went into effect in July. Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the measure in April.

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