Case: United States of America v. State of Indiana

1:06-cv-01000 | U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

Filed Date: June 27, 2006

Closed Date: March 10, 2009

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Case Summary

This is a case about an alleged failure by the State of Indiana to conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to identify and remove ineligible votes from Indiana's registration list, resulting in allegedly excessively high registration totals as compared to the voting age population in each county. On June 27, 2006, the United States of America filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The plaintiff sued the State of Indiana, as well as the Co-Directors of the Indiana Election Division in their official capacity, under Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ("NVRA"), 42 U.S.C. 1973gg-6. Represented by the U.S. Department Of Justice, Civil Rights Division/Voting Section, the plaintiff sought a declaration that defendants violated of the NVRA because they failed to ensure that the State of Indiana conducts an adequate general program of list maintenance that makes a reasonable effort to identify and remove names of ineligible votes and remove such voters, an order requiring the defendants to remedy the failure to remove such voter registrations and a plan to remedy the violations. They claimed that Section 8 of the NVRA requires such actions.

The United States of America filed its Complaint on June 27, 2006, alleging that the State of Indiana was violating the following provisions of Section 8 of the NVRA: failing to conduct a general program that makes reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible votes from the official lists of eligible voters by reason of (A) death of registrant or (B) change in residence of registrant; failing to conduct immediate removal of a voter from a registration list based on death, conviction of disqualifying crime, or a request of the voter; failing to engage in oversight actions sufficient to ensure that local election jurisdictions identify and remove such ineligible votes. Accordingly, the United States of America alleged, this resulted in a very high registration total as compared to the voting age population in each country.

On April 7, 2025, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the Indiana Secretary of State to raise the concerns, and on January 1, 2006, the State of Indiana launched a statewide, computerized voter registration database, as required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ("HAVA"). The database helps the State of Indiana to identify "ineligible votes." When the State ran the query to identify deceased registrants and duplicate registrants, it discovered over 29,000 possibly deceased registrants and nearly 290,000 duplicates. The Department of Justice sent a second letter to the State of Indiana on May 18, 2006, and one Co-Director of the Indiana Election Division sent a reply on May 25, 2006, admitting that Indiana is not currently meeting its voter list maintenance obligations under the NVRA. Accordingly, the United States of American filed suit requesting a declaration of the State of Indiana's non-compliance and an order requiring compliance of the NVRA.

On June 27, 2006, the United States of America and the State of Indiana, along with the defendant Co-Directors of the Indiana Election Division, entered into a Consent Decree and Order agreeing as follows: On or before June 30, 2006, the Indiana Election Division shall require each county voter registration office to make a determination about whether the potentially deceased or duplicate registrants should be removed and make such removal of invalid registrants by August 2, 2006; provide a report to counsel for the United States on or before August 16, 2006 regarding such removals; take reasonable efforts to identify voters who are ineligible to vote by conducting a statewide mailing of election-related materials to all registered votes on or before June 30, 2006 and provide a report of such measures to the United States by August 25, 2006; develop a written plan for identifying and deleting ineligible votes on the State of Indiana's computerized database and procedure for tracking whether each county voter registration office is complying; develop training manuals and conduct regular training of local election officials at least once each year on the proper conduct; provide copies of such training to counsel for the United States; annual reporting of the total number of active and inactive votes in each county in the State of Indiana; retain records; and each party shall bear its own costs with regard to actions taken by the parties up to and including the entry of the decree.

On March 2, 2009, the Court granted the plaintiff's motion to amend the Consent Decree and ordered that the Consent Decree add a paragraph requiring the State of Indiana to make available to the United States the full statewide voter registration list within 21 days of the Order.

	Document
4 1:06-cv-01000	Consent Decree and Order	June 27, 2006	June 27, 2006 Order/Opinion
1 1:06-cv-01000	Complaint	June 27, 2006	June 27, 2006 Complaint
5 1:06-cv-01000	Consent Decree and Order	July 5, 2006	July 5, 2006 Order/Opinion
13 1:06-cv-01000	Order Allowing Extension of Consent Decree Deadlines	Feb. 11, 2008	Feb. 11, 2008 Order/Opinion
18 1:06-cv-01000	Order	March 2, 2009	March 2, 2009 Order/Opinion

ECF Number	Description	Date	Link Date / Link
1	COMPLAINT filed by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA against J. BRADLEY KING, STATE OF INDIANA, and KRISTI ROBERTSON.(DH, ) (Entered: 06/27/2006)	June 27, 2006	June 27, 2006 Clearinghouse
2	CIVIL COVER SHEET filed by Plaintiff, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (DH, ) (Entered: 06/27/2006)	June 27, 2006	June 27, 2006
3	MAGISTRATE JUDGE's NOTICE of Availability to Exercise Jurisdiction. (DH, ) (Entered: 06/27/2006)	June 27, 2006	June 27, 2006
4	Submission of Consent Decree And Order by all parties. (DH, ) (Entered: 06/27/2006)	June 27, 2006	June 27, 2006 Clearinghouse
5	CLOSED DISMISSED. Consent Decree and Order APPROVED. Signed by Judge Richard L. Young on 7/5/06. (CLL, ) (Entered: 07/05/2006)	July 5, 2006	July 5, 2006 Clearinghouse
6	NOTICE of Appearance by Douglas J. Webber on behalf of Defendants J. BRADLEY KING, STATE OF INDIANA, KRISTI ROBERTSON. (Webber, Douglas) (Entered: 09/11/2006)	Sept. 11, 2006	Sept. 11, 2006
7	MOTION to Extend Consent Decree Deadlines, filed by Defendants J. BRADLEY KING, STATE OF INDIANA, KRISTI ROBERTSON., (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Webber, Douglas) (Entered: 09/11/2006)	Sept. 11, 2006	Sept. 11, 2006
8	ORDER granting 7 Motion extending Consent Decree Deadlines. Signed by Judge Richard L. Young on 9/15/06. (CLL) (Entered: 09/15/2006)	Sept. 15, 2006	Sept. 15, 2006
9	NOTICE of Substitution of Appearance by Robert B. Wente replacing Douglas J. Webber on behalf of all defendants (Wente, Robert) (Entered: 12/28/2007)	Dec. 28, 2007	Dec. 28, 2007
10	MOTION to Extend Consent Decree Deadlines, filed by Defendants J. BRADLEY KING, STATE OF INDIANA, KRISTI ROBERTSON. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order allowing extension of consent decree deadlines)(Wente, Robert) (Entered: 12/28/2007)	Dec. 28, 2007	Dec. 28, 2007
11	ORDER granting 10 Motion to extend consent decree deadlines. Signed by Judge Richard L. Young on 1/4/08. (CLL) (Entered: 01/04/2008)	Jan. 4, 2008	Jan. 4, 2008
12	Unopposed MOTION for Extension of Time to February 29, 2008, filed by Defendants J. BRADLEY KING, STATE OF INDIANA, KRISTI ROBERTSON. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order extending deadlines)(Wente, Robert) (Entered: 01/31/2008)	Jan. 31, 2008	Jan. 31, 2008
13	ORDER granting defts' 12 Motion for Extension of Consent Decree Deadlines to 2/29/2008. Signed by Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker on 2/11/2008. (LSC) (Entered: 02/11/2008)	Feb. 11, 2008	Feb. 11, 2008 Clearinghouse
14	NOTICE of Appearance by MiYung Claire Park on behalf of Plaintiff UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (Park, MiYung) (Entered: 02/12/2008)	Feb. 12, 2008	Feb. 12, 2008
15	NOTICE of Appearance by Sabatino F. Leo on behalf of Plaintiff UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (Leo, Sabatino) (Entered: 02/27/2009)	Feb. 27, 2009	Feb. 27, 2009
16	Unopposed MOTION to Amend/Correct 4 Submission Consent Decree, filed by Plaintiff UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (Attachments: # 1 Text of Proposed Order)(Leo, Sabatino) (Entered: 02/27/2009)	Feb. 27, 2009	Feb. 27, 2009
18	ORDER granting 16 Motion to Amend/Correct Consent Decree (see Order). Signed by Judge Richard L. Young on 3/2/2009. (PG) (Entered: 03/03/2009)	March 2, 2009	March 2, 2009 Clearinghouse
17	NOTICE of Withdrawal of Appearance by on behalf of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Leo, Sabatino) (Entered: 03/03/2009)	March 3, 2009	March 3, 2009
19	NOTICE of Substitution of Appearance by Gary W. Bippus replacing Robert B. Wente and Douglas J. Webber on behalf of all defendants (Bippus, Gary) (Entered: 03/10/2009)	March 10, 2009	March 10, 2009

Case: United States of America v. State of Indiana

1:06-cv-01000 | U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

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