Melton warns against limiting voting options amid pandemic

On Thursday, Republican state officials expressed their intention to limit mail-in voting for the general election in November. State Senator Eddie Melton (D-Gary) released the following statement in response:

“It would be extremely irresponsible for Indiana to deny all of our residents the option to vote by a mailed absentee ballot in the general election this year,” Sen. Melton said. “This pandemic is not over, and it doesn’t look like it will go away anytime soon. In the time that we have before November, we should be actively working to expand mail-in voting to ensure as many residents as possible are able to vote safely and securely by mail this November. 

“If we have a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall – which health officials have warned – we need to be prepared, or there will be Hoosiers who won’t feel safe going the polls and will be disenfranchised if no-excuse absentee ballots are not an option. We already saw the consequences of this pandemic in our primary election when the proper resources were not allocated. There’s absolutely no reason we should take the risk of having people voting in person when we’re able to prepare now to make sure all Hoosiers can vote safely by mail. Our state received nearly $8 million from the federal government to assist with this year’s elections, and we should dedicate the remainder of that to adequately preparing for all residents to vote by mail in the general. We have the funds. Now we need Republicans to take action and support safe, accessible elections.”