Committee adopts amendment tightening county voter-list maintenance; bill passed as amended

The Elections and Apportionment Committee on an undisclosed date approved Senate Bill 10 as amended, moving the measure out of committee by a 9-4 vote after adopting a key amendment that speeds county voter-list maintenance and adds a mechanism for interstate data-sharing.

Representative Culp offered amendment 10, which the committee adopted 8-4. The amendment requires a county voter registration office to perform maintenance and mail a notice to any registered voter who has not cast a ballot in the two most recent general elections within 48 hours of receiving information that triggers maintenance. The amendment also directs the Secretary of State to contact counterparts in other states to offer a voter-registration list-sharing agreement for identifying voters who may be registered in multiple states and prohibits sale or sharing of that data with non-election officials.

Supporters said the 48-hour requirement narrows an existing statutory phrase that previously required maintenance on a "regular basis" and in the senate version "not less than two times a year." Representative Culp said the change would ensure timely updates as counties receive information from sources such as county health departments. Representative Arrington asked why current twice-yearly checks were insufficient; Culp replied the faster timeline keeps the rolls more current and prevents items from being left in files.

Several lawmakers raised operational and legal questions. Representative Jackson asked whether the Secretary of State is the designated NVRA (National Voter Registration Act) chief official; Representative Boye cited 52 U.S.C. 20509 and argued the co-directors of the Election Division have jointly been designated as the state's NVRA officials. Committee members questioned whether naming the Secretary of State to lead interstate outreach would displace the election division co-directors and whether other states use the same structure. Culp and other proponents said the amendment intentionally names the Secretary of State (or the Secretary's office) to streamline interstate coordination because elected secretaries of state typically have established relationships with peers in other states.

The committee considered several other amendments to the bill during the hearing. Amendment 7, which would have preserved student IDs and broadened acceptable identification sources (including political subdivisions and postsecondary institutions) and made other changes, failed 4-8. Amendment 9, concerning student IDs and turnout, also failed 4-8. Amendment 17 (limits on using commercially available data older than four years for address verification) failed 4-8. Amendment 20, which adds the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) as acceptable proof of U.S. citizenship, was accepted by consent. The committee then moved to pass the bill as amended; the final roll call recorded the bill as adopted out of committee 9 to 4.

Representatives and witnesses debated potential false positives from interstate matching and the Indiana Data Exchange Association (IDEA) earlier-state system; Representative Boyd and others raised the Kansas "Crosscheck" example, which compared only first name, last name and date of birth and produced false matches in a prior interstate program. Proponents said any interstate matching would trigger existing state maintenance processes and additional cross-checks at the state and county level before any change to a voter's status occurred.

The bill as amended requires the Secretary of State to initiate outreach to other states by January 1, 2026, to request execution of data-sharing agreements; it also retains prohibitions on sale or non-election use of shared registration information. Committee discussion emphasized that the amendment does not change the legal process for resolving matches: states and counties would follow their established maintenance and notification procedures.

Going forward, the bill will proceed to the next legislative stage with the committee's adopted amendments; the transcript established the committee's roll-call votes and the text of the adopted amendment but did not specify an implementation timeline beyond the January 1, 2026 outreach date in the amendment.