Committee adopts changes to voter-list maintenance, adds interstate matching; bill passes 9-4

The House committee on elections on an administrative motion adopted amendments to Senate Bill 10, tightening how quickly local voter-registration offices must act on new information and adding a framework for interstate voter-registration matching. The amended bill passed committee on a recorded vote, 9-4.

The bill as amended requires a county voter-registration office to perform required list-maintenance activity within 48 hours of receiving documentation that a maintenance action is required, rather than on an undefined “regular basis” or “not less than twice a year.” It also directs the Secretary of State to contact counterparts in other states to propose voter-registration list–sharing agreements for the purpose of identifying potential duplicate registrations across states. The amendment added a prohibition on selling or otherwise sharing those matched data with anyone who is not an election official for the jurisdiction receiving the information. Representative Amanda Culp, the amendment sponsor, described the changes as intended “to make our bill stronger.”

Committee members pressed several practical concerns. Representative Arrington asked whether the change would create duplicative work for counties already required to perform list maintenance; Representative Culp replied the 48-hour deadline applies upon receipt of documentation that a change is needed, not on a continuous two‑day cycle. Representative Jackson and others raised questions about whether the Secretary of State is the proper NVRA (National Voter Registration Act) official to lead interstate contacts, noting state law and federal NVRA practice in which election-division co‑directors jointly serve as chief state election officials. Representative Culp said the amendment assigns responsibility to the Secretary of State’s office and that office would work through staff in practice.

Several members raised data-quality concerns. Representative Boye invoked the Kansas “Crosscheck” experience and warned of false positives when matching records across states; supporters replied that interstate matches would trigger standard local maintenance and further investigation rather than automatic removals. Representative Prior and others questioned whether commercially available data should be limited by recency; an amendment to restrict commercial data to information less than four years old failed 4-8. A separate amendment to add the U.S. consular Report of Birth Abroad to the list of acceptable proof-of-citizenship documents was adopted by consent.

Committee action on specific amendments: amendment 10 (the amendment described above, tightening maintenance timing and adding interstate matching) was adopted earlier in the hearing; amendment 7 (which would have preserved student IDs as acceptable photo ID and related changes) failed; amendment 17 (limiting stale commercial data) failed; amendment 20 (adding the consular report of birth abroad as acceptable proof of citizenship) was adopted by consent. The committee voted to pass Senate Bill 10 as amended, 9-4.

The bill’s proponents said the changes are intended to improve the accuracy of Indiana’s voter rolls and to protect noncitizens who might be mistakenly registered through motor‑vehicle transactions. Opponents and some members urged caution about operational burden on counties and the risk of false matches that could generate calls from newly naturalized citizens.

The committee sent the bill forward as amended with the recorded vote in committee showing nine members in favor and four opposed.