Brennan Center for Justice

Indiana currently has the Online Registration component of Voter Registration Modernization in place. Indiana also has electronic pollbooks in at least one county.

The excerpt below was adapted from an appendix to the 2010 report Voter Registration in a Digital Age.

Background
The Indiana General Assembly approved online voter registration in May 2009, and officials launched the new system in July 2010.

Outcomes
Approximately 2,500 people used the online system in its first month, and election officials expect the rate of use to increase registration deadline for the 2010 general election approaches. According to Regina Harris, the Registration Administrator for Lake County, her office can process paperless registrations in half the time needed for a paper form, or even less.

How Paperless Registration Works in Indiana
Online Registration. A person who follows an online registration link on the Secretary of State’s website first comes to an introductory page that explains how the process works and lists the eligibility requirements for voter registration, as well as the penalties for providing false information. The user is required to click a box indicating "I accept the Terms of Use" in order to continue. At the side of the page, an information bar outlines the online process, explains registration deadlines, and includes a tracker indicating the number of people that have submitted online applications so far.

On the next page the user must answer four yes/no questions regarding her eligibility, respond to a CAPTCHA test, and enter her driver's license or state ID card number in order to proceed. License and ID numbers are checked against BMV records in real time, and if a user does not enter a recognized number, she will not be allowed to proceed. For the benefit of users unable to access the full online procedure, the page also contains a link to a printable registration form.

A user with a validated number proceeds to a voter information page, where she must enter her name, birth date, residential address, mailing address (if different), and the residential address of her last voter registration (if any). She may also choose to provide a phone number and e-mail address. Finally, the user reviews the information she has entered and checks a series of voter declarations attesting to her eligibility. After clicking "submit," she reviews a confirmation page which provides her county election office’s contact information, and explains that she should expect to receive a mailed acknowledgment from them within 30 days. The page also contains a confirmation number, and allows the user to print a confirmation receipt.

After the user submits her data, the online program retrieves the digitized signature from her file at the BMV. The complete electronic application is then placed overnight in a queue for the appropriate county, where local officials review the file and decide whether to accept it.

In the past, Indiana has considered the following VRM-related legislation:

• Election Day Registration. This bill would have established same day registration and voting. (S.B. 515)