(INDIANAPOLIS) – If you’ve already applied for an absentee ballot, you should double-check that it’s been accepted.
Secretary of State Connie Lawson says an Indiana Democratic Party mass mailing of ballot applications left out the instructions for filling them out, a requirement under state law. Lawson says the bipartisan Election Division has retroactively granted a one-time exception at her request to approve the forms to avoid depriving people of the opportunity to vote. But she says “a handful” of county election boards had already voted to reject applications. They’ll need to vote again to authorize them. She says if you received one of the Democratic mailers and submitted it, you should double-check that your application has been accepted.
Election Division co-director Brad King says Allen County had raised questions about the applications. Lawson says it’s not clear how many or which other counties rejected the forms, but says some counties called her office to ask about the issue. Lawson says a Democratic Party attorney confirmed the error on Thursday.
Secretary of State Connie Lawson says Democrats alerted her office they’d mailed out “hundreds of thousands” of absentee ballot applications which omitted the required instructions on how to fill it out.
State Democratic Chairman John Zody says every voter should be able to exercise his right to vote, and says he’s glad Lawson agrees. Republican Chairman Kyle Hupfer also applauded the decision to accept the forms, while jabbing Democrats for sending out a faulty form in the first place.
The deadline to apply to vote absentee is October 29.
(Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)
