Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrnesville, introduces his elections legislation in committee on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Hoosier voters could see early in-person voting slashed from a month to two weeks under legislation moving to the Indiana Senate’s floor.
Under current law, voters can cast ballots in person for 28 days ahead of elections. After a Monday amendment, Senate Bill 284 would reduce that period to 14 days. It originally would’ve cut the period to just seven days.
Clerks have complained it’s too hard to staff early voting centers for so long, particularly when so few Hoosiers vote during the first half of the period compared to the second half, Author Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrnesville, told the Senate’s Elections Committee.
Before the committee’s 6-3 vote, he called his proposal “common-sense” and said voting was easier now than when his ancestors had to drive a horse and buggy miles to vote.
Multiple witnesses, however, feared the change could worsen already-long early voting lines or drop already-low turnout.
“Hoosier voters like early in-person voting, and certainly in central Indiana, early voting is busy from the first day to the last day — so busy that people are waiting in line (for) two, three hours at early voting locations in Marion and in Hamilton counties,” said Julia Vaughn, leader of elections watchdog Common Cause Indiana. “We don’t need less early voting in Indiana. We need more of it.” She noted that elderly and disabled voters in particular already struggle to stand in line for so long.
The current 28-day early voting period “is one of the few things that Indiana does right when it comes to election policy. It’s not broken — please don’t fix it,” Vaughn said, to applause.
Chris Daley, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, said Indiana Code already contains exceptions for counties struggling to operate vote centers for the full 28 days.
“Unfortunately, this is a one-size prohibition on those counties who do utilize the whole 28 days, and the citizens in those counties who need that period of time to make sure that they can vote,” Daley added.
Locals also spoke out.
“Early voting is huge in Lake County,” Michelle Fajman said. She asked lawmakers to either reconsider, or to allow counties the discretion to expand early voting locally.
In the past, lawmakers have used the long early voting period as a reason not to expand vote-by-mail in Indiana.
The lone witness in support was Keegan Prentice, legislative director for the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office. Secretary Diego Morales is Indiana’s top elections official.
“Early voting is also about the balance of how many voters we’re getting now to vote and the costs of those elections we’re holding,” Prentice said.
On average in the 2016 and 2020 general elections, about 24% of early voters cast their ballots in person during the first two weeks of Indiana’s 28-day period, according to Prentice. The percentage was lower for primary elections in those years.
He and multiple committee members pushed to increase the number of early voting locations.
Prentice suggested codifying into law a mandated number of locations based on number of registered voters.
Byrne, the author, supports that shift.
He told the Capital Chronicle that savings found by cutting the early voting period could be redirected toward boosting location count.
“That money would be able to be used more wisely, opening up more options for people to vote. And I think that’s where we’re going to be going with this,” Bryne said.
A fiscal analysis by the Legislative Services Agency showed that county circuit court clerks and election boards would see reductions in staff time, poll worker per diem, ballots printed and electronic voting system energy use. But, it said, “Any savings would likely be minimal.”
This story will be updated.