Dem
47
GOP
53
Republicans in Indiana don't want college students to vote because they tend to vote for Democrats. They have found a powerful new tool for achieving their goal: disallowing the use of student ID cards as proof for voting. Indiana has a strict voter ID law, but up until now, college students studying in the state, regardless of where they are from, could vote in Indiana using their student ID card as proof of identity. Having out-of-state students vote is not as strange as it seems. When the decennial census comes around, out-of-state students are counted and thus increase the number of House seats and electoral votes the state gets. They also pay higher tuition to the university.
The Indiana state Senate just passed a bill, SB 10, to ban the student ID cards on a vote of 39 to 11, with all but one Republican, and no Democrats, voting for the bill. The state House is expected to pass the bill soon and then Gov. Mike Braun (R-IN) will sign it in plenty of time before the 2026 midterms. Republicans haven't even bothered to make up some story about fraud or saving the taxpayers money. It is just a naked power grab.
Most students, except those with cars (and a driver's license) have no ID other than their student ID, so they will be effectively disenfranchised when SB 10 becomes law. In principle, they could go to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles and get an ID card there. However, the DMV is far from Indiana University in Bloomington and many students have no way to get there. Also, the DMV may require documents that the students don't have, and their office hours may conflict with classes.
Another issue that affects students is where they can vote. Some campuses have a precinct on campus, but others don't, which means those students are assigned a precinct, possibly far from where they study. If they don't have a car, getting there may be difficult. Some counties have adopted voting centers that allow anyone in the county to vote, rather than assigning people to precincts.
Cleta Mitchell, a conservative lawyer who helped Donald Trump with the 2021 attempted coup, is spearheading efforts to pass similar laws in other states. Currently, six other states already have laws banning student ID cards as proof of identity. She wants to expand this to all states where the Republicans have the trifecta. (V)