FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WFFT) -- A bill in the Indiana Senate could impact how Hoosiers vote in future elections.

Senate Bill 353 in its current form would require voters to present their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number to vote by mail.

One of the authors of the bill, Republican State Senator Erin Houchin, said in a statement that these are already required to vote in person, so the same standard should be met for mail-in voting.

If old voting records do not have these numbers, Allen County Director of Elections Beth Dlug said these requirements would only create more work for the Board of Elections, which is already very busy during election season.

“[We have to] make a phone call and talk to the voter, and also get another application,” Dlug said.

In addition, if it takes too long to process and the deadline isn’t met, that person might not be able to vote by mail.

The bill would also not allow state election boards to change the date of any election, even during emergency situations like a pandemic.

Houchin says these changes are common sense to validate the integrity of an election.

But when the legislation is based on a lie about fraudulent elections, Camp said it could disenfranchise people.
“It’s really hard for us to govern and make sure the system does stay safe, that people believe in the system, when you’ve got that kind of thing happening,” he said.
The bill is currently in the state Senate and could go through more changes in the General Assembly.