STATEWIDE — She has a lot to say about voter ID and the safety of our elections. So, she’s running for office.
“I do believe that democracy is at risk,” says Destiny Wells.
Wells is the former Indiana Deputy Attorney General. She’s seeking the Democrat nomination for Secretary of State. She tells All Indiana Politics that many politicians claim elections are not safe.
She agrees, but for vastly different reasons.
“They are not safe in a different way, and that’s looking towards the future,” Wells tells All Indiana Politics, “these are issues of voter suppression and election subversion. Those are the issues that leave voter ballots not safe, and that’s manipulating the process by elected officials.”
Wells, who graduated from Indiana University and the University of Texas school of law, does not agree with the notion that strict voter ID rules make people feel better about the integrity of an election.
“That is not true. In fact, we [Indiana] have been in a race to the bottom as far as voter participation is concerned. When you look at when voter ID was enacted [in Indiana], in years such as 2014, we were last in the nation in voter participation.”
Wells points to the strict standards for voting IDs. She claims she couldn’t even use her own government-issued ID to vote, and had to figure out another method. She says this type of restriction has to be addressed.
“Any type of ID that makes you show a background check, should be suitable at the polls,” she tells All Indiana Politics. “I want to look at voter ID and talk about expanding the different types of ID that can be used at the polls.”
Another issue Wells wants to address is the voter registration deadline. She says Indiana’s current 29-day deadline is the longest in the country. She says it creates an issue for the everyday Hoosier, who may not even think about an election until a few days beforehand. If they moved to a new address, they may not have enough time to get their information updated before that 29-day deadline hits.
Wells also believes in expanding absentee ballot voting. She points to the massive voter turnout in 2020 – the largest in Indiana since 1992.
“If you look at that though, 60-percent of that were absentee ballots,” she continues, “so why would we not want more Hoosiers to be able to vote by absentee ballot?”
Wells, who served nearly 20 years in the military, says many national security people like her are running for elected office because of their careers upholding democracy. She says the cornerstone of upholding democracy is guarding the ballot box.
