Voter Suppression in Indiana

Indiana has always been a site where suffrage is contested. The recent attempts by the state to limit student enfranchisement by making it illegal to use a student identification to vote is just one move in a long game of political chess. This game is a negotiation between the forces for and against enfranchisement that continues until the actors decide it’s over, which they’ve yet to do. 

For most of the state’s history, only white male landowners had the right to vote. This had the effect of restricting power to relatively few people, as many white men could not afford land and were also denied suffrage. As early as the 1850s, though, there were serious attempts in Indiana politics to get women the right to vote. The first statewide Woman’s Rights Association was established in Dublin, Indiana in 1851, following the testimony of Amanda Way, who described the manner in which women were abused and mistreated by the state. Suffrage movements often worked in conjunction with the anti-slavery movements of the day. 

Despite the assumptions people make about this time period in history, people were aware of the concept of equal rights and many advocated for it, regardless of any bigotries they may have held about one another. Henry C. Wright, an abolitionist and feminist well-known in the nation, spoke at the first Women’s Rights Convention held in the state to advocate for women’s full enfranchisement. The constitution that was eventually adopted by the Women’s Rights Association provided a guide for which rights to lobby for, including the right to vote, to get an education, equal pay for equal work, and an end to the sexist attitudes that underlay many of the laws and customs of the time. 

Though many activists took a break during and immediately following the civil war, the struggle for suffrage continued throughout the end of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. Black and other women of color began attending the suffrage meetings, and in 1870, the fifteenth amendment was ratified, extending suffrage to all men, regardless of race or status. It would take another fifty years for women to gain the right to vote, and another fifty for all who nominally had the right to vote to be able to freely exercise that right. 

After the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (along with its subsequent amendments), many people assumed that the question of suffrage was settled. What options were left to those who wished to restrict voting rights further? 

It turns out, they had quite a few options. 

There was always the usual: violence, both threatened and carried out. the Ku Klux Klan and other similar organizations were active throughout much of the twentieth century, and they held considerable political sway over small and rural locations. There were also efforts to cut people from the voter rolls, to tell people they could not vote when they in fact could, and to coerce vulnerable people into refraining from voting through cultural training. Of course, it wasn’t only bigots who had interest in limiting who could vote and when. Many interests in our country struggle to hold onto power when the people exercise their voting rights, so much of the corporate world considers investments in voter suppression to be worthwhile. Over the past thirty years, voter suppression efforts have slowly eroded at ballot access for a significant number of Americans, including those here in Indiana. 

The latest development in this area is the passage of Indiana Senate Bill 10, which makes it illegal for students to use their university-provided student identification to vote in state and local elections. This bills has the effect of making it difficult for younger citizens to vote, a goal of the current administrations at both the state and national levels. Many students - as many as 40% - do not have a driver’s license, the most common form of identification used for voting by non-student voters. Two-third used their student identification cards to vote in the 2024 election. Thankfully, the bill is being challenged in court, with critics explaining that the law is unconstitutional and disproportionately affects younger voters. They are trying to block the student ID ban before the 2026 elections. 

The struggle to preserve our civil liberties is never ending; we can’t afford to take them for granted. Here are some steps you can take to make sure you’re able to vote:

• Check your voter registration. Even if you think you’re already registered, check again. Visit IndianaVoters.com. 

• If possible, get a driver’s license or state identification card. In case the law is not stricken down in court, you will need it to be able to vote in 2026.

• Encourage your friends and family to check their registrations as well. People are sometimes removed from voter rolls without their knowledge.