INDIANAPOLIS—In an attack on the voting rights of legal immigrants and Black and brown working people, on Oct. 7 Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Secretary of State Diego Morales asked Ur M. Jaddou, Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to “verify” the citizenship of over 10% of the state’s registered voters – some 585,000 people.
The letter Rokita and Morales dispatched to Jaddou claims that because “the right to exercise the franchise in a free and unimpaired manner is preservative of other basic civil and political rights,” Hoosiers deserve to know that only eligible voters will be participating in our elections and that their votes will not be diluted or distorted by ballots cast by non-citizens.”
As reported by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz and Whitney Downard in the Indiana Capital Chronicle, “The effort echoes similar attempts in other states to purge voter rolls – several of which have run afoul of a federal deadline intended to protect eligible voters.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, sent Jaddou a similar letter, also on Oct. 7. Both letters have almost the same language.
Far-right Republicans, represented by Rokita and Morales, know that their MAGA “movement” can only win through a constant effort to suppress the democratic right of all citizens to vote. The 585,000 people targeted in their planned purge were chosen because they supposedly “did not use a driver’s license or ID to register to vote and that information could not be obtained from the Department of Public Safety, so their citizenship status has never been verified.”
Many elderly and young voters and those living in urban areas do not have driver’s licenses – a fact ignored by Rokita and Morales.
Supporters of democracy responded denouncing the letter.
“This nonsense from the Attorney General and Secretary of State is just intimidation of naturalized citizens and Indiana voters,” said Julia Vaughn, leader of the non-partisan watchdog Common Cause Indiana. “These two elected officials should be inspiring confidence in our elections, not sending political press releases from their official offices.”
Jake Watkins, Co-Chair of the Communist Party of Indiana (CPUSA), said:
“Republicans have been consistently attacking voting rights since the Reagan presidency in the 1980s. Turning Indianapolis into a single county, gerrymandering, limiting access to voting sites, and otherwise attempting to undermine the voice of women, Black and brown folks, Asians and working people has been the strategy of Indiana Republicans, whose policies are toxic to humanity.
“Barack Obama won Indiana in 2008, demonstrating that there is a potential for wide resistance to the Republican agenda, however. Participation of all people in Indiana in the process of setting the policies of this state is necessary and vital for a healthy state economy and civic life. We condemn this attack on worker power in Indiana”
Voters can refer to the Indiana Voter’s Bill of Rights in Spanish and English for helpful information regarding election procedures.
Watkins continued, saying, “We encourage everyone to vote.” He said the Communist Party has prepared its own resource package for voters, “Toolkit: Secure and Protect the Vote!”
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