Nonpartisan Organizations Seek Preliminary Injunction in Lawsuit Challenging Indiana’s Unlawful Citizenship Check Laws
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2026
CONTACT:
Zindy Marquez
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
zmarquez@clccrul.org
Lacy Crawford
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
lcrawford@lawyerscommittee.org
Nonpartisan Voting Rights Organizations Await Ruling in Request for Preliminary Injunction in Lawsuit Challenging Indiana’s Unlawful Citizenship Check Laws
Thousands of eligible Indiana voters could face disenfranchisement in the November midterm elections as a result of these discriminatory voter registration requirements
INDIANA (June 25, 2026) — League of Women Voters of Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, Hoosier Asian American Power, and Exodus Refugee Immigration are awaiting the ruling on their motion for preliminary injunction in federal court seeking to halt enforcement of Indiana laws that unlawfully target naturalized U.S. citizens and threaten eligible voters with disenfranchisement in violation of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without preliminary injunctive relief, thousands of eligible Indiana voters face disenfranchisement in the November midterm elections because of these discriminatory citizenship check laws.
The nonpartisan organizations are represented by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Daniel Bowman and William Groth of Bowman Legal Services, LLC.
The motion asks the court to block enforcement of Indiana’s new documentary proof of citizenship requirements while the case proceeds, arguing the laws rely on flawed data systems and single out only naturalized and derived U.S. citizens. The motion states this process has already been confirmed to have misidentified hundreds of eligible U.S. citizens as potential noncitizens, with many more likely to have been misidentified, putting their right to vote in jeopardy. Federal and state law already prohibit noncitizens from voting and every voter already affirms their citizenship on penalty of perjury when registering.
“These laws force eligible voters, specifically naturalized citizens, to overcome discriminatory barriers simply to remain registered to vote,” said Ami Gandhi, Director of the Midwest Voting Rights Program with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “Without injunctive relief, thousands of eligible voters are at risk of wrongful removal from the rolls. We are asking the Court to intervene before significant harm occurs ahead of the November midterm elections.”
The challenged laws require election officials to conduct citizenship verification checks using outdated Bureau of Motor Vehicles data that may inaccurately identify U.S. citizens as noncitizens and fail to reflect current citizenship status. Registered and eligible voters flagged through this process must take additional steps to submit documentary proof of citizenship within a 30-day deadline to remain registered to vote or risk being removed from the rolls—a requirement no U.S.-born citizen will ever be forced to comply with.
"We knew there were serious gaps in the reliability of BMV information when the citizenship crosscheck laws were moving through the general assembly,” said Linda Hanson, President of the League of Women Voters of Indiana. “Those gaps put naturalized and derived U.S. citizens at risk of wrongful removal from the voter registration rolls. We hope the Court will intervene to protect the rights of these eligible voters well before the November midterm elections.”
“When we testified against these citizenship crosscheck laws at the General Assembly, we warned lawmakers that using stale data from the BMV would result in eligible voters being wrongfully flagged and forced to prove their citizenship,” said Julia Vaughn, Executive Director of Common Cause Indiana. “These laws are unnecessary and ill-conceived, and we're hopeful the court will grant our request for a preliminary injunction so no additional Hoosiers will be forced to jump through additional hoops to exercise their right to vote.”
“Our community members who are naturalized U.S. citizens cherish our democracy just as much as other Hoosiers,” said Melissa Borja, Co-Chair of Hoosier Asian American Power. “However, the citizenship check laws impose an unfair burden on these voters and can result in their unjust removal from the voter rolls. We hope that the court grants a preliminary injunction because all eligible voters, including naturalized citizens, deserve a democracy free of discrimination.”
“Federal law protects voters from discriminatory registration practices and unlawful voter purges,” said Cole Varga, CEO of Exodus Refugee Immigration. “Indiana’s citizenship check laws violate those protections and threaten to disenfranchise eligible citizens based on inaccurate data and unfounded narratives about noncitizen voting.”
“Indiana is using data it knows is outdated and inaccurate to target eligible, registered voters for disenfranchisement through a process that routinely misidentifies non-U.S.-born citizens as potential noncitizens,” said Ryan Snow, counsel with the Voting Rights Project of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “The evidence is clear—these laws put thousands of non-U.S.-born citizens at risk of disenfranchisement unless they produce documentary proof of citizenship, something no U.S.-born citizen will ever be required to do. This is fundamentally discriminatory in violation of federal law and must be stopped.”
Across the country, voting rights advocates have warned against efforts to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements and aggressive voter list maintenance programs based on false narratives about noncitizen voting. Studies and widespread data have repeatedly found that noncitizen voting is extremely rare.
The organizations are asking the court to prevent Indiana officials from enforcing the challenged provisions while the litigation moves forward.
Read the motion for preliminary injunction here.
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