An Indiana House committee chairman from Columbus said he reluctantly plans to block a bill submitted by another Bartholomew County legislator that in some instances would allow the votes of dead people to count.
State Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, a co-author of Senate Bill 155, said he agrees with the decision by State Rep. Milo Smith, chairman of the House Elections and Apportionment Committee.
State law currently requires county clerks and their staffs to cross-check absentee ballots against information about residents who have died.
The votes of those who are discovered to be deceased are then invalidated through an election board process.
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With the testimony of Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps backing him, Walker’s bill would have removed those requirements.
“We believe they should use their time and energies on more pressing matters, including security,” Walker said.
The Indiana Senate voted 45-2 on Jan. 16 in favor of the measure, co-authored by Sen. Jon Ford, R-Terre Haute.
But the Senate approval sparked a formal request to Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill to provide a legal opinion on whether the bill was constitutional.
Since the request contained supporting testimony that the bill was unconstitutional because a deceased person is not considered an Indiana resident, Walker said he knew Senate Bill 155 would die in the House.
“I was prepared to hear (the bill) in committee if it was just a state violation,” Smith said.
But when Hill stated the proposal violated not only the state Constitution but also the U.S. Constitution, Smith and Walker agreed the measure could move no further through the General Assembly.
Similar legislation was drafted by Smith about three years ago that applied specifically to military personnel who cast an absentee ballot but then died before election day, Smith said.
“But I didn’t call down my own bill because I was told it was unconstitutional,” Smith said. “They told me it gave special consideration to one class of people.”
Both Columbus lawmakers agree the problem is that both constitutions were drafted long before absentee voting was conceived, and that changes need to be implemented in both governing documents.
“But that’s a large hurdle, to say the least,” Walker said.
Smith said he hope this issue gets the attention of federal lawmakers.
“But in the Indiana General Assembly, we can’t begin to address this during a short session,” he said.
