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NAACP Details Lawsuits Filed Over Voter Rights

Eric Weddle/WFYI Public Media
Barbara Bolling-Williams, Indiana NAACP President, talks at the conference’s annual state convention at the Clarion Hotel in Indianapolis on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017.

The Indiana chapter of the NAACP is pinning its hopes for voting reform on a number of ongoing lawsuits. The organization is holding its state convention over the next few days.

Over the weekend members of the NAACP are scheduled to discuss topics like education policy, police investigations, and the East Chicago lead crisis.

The state chapter is also engaged in four lawsuits surrounding voter protections.

One challenges the use of Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck, a system meant to detect voter fraud by checking for duplicated names in other states. Indiana State Conference President Barbara Bolling-Williams says the process is flawed.

“It’s just the names that they look at. And that’s highly unreliable, and it stages to kick millions of people off our rolls erroneously,” Bolling-Williams says.

Another lawsuit challenges the way early voting sites are selected. And another seeks to block a law forcing the consolidation of small precincts in Lake County.

The last asks the Secretary of State to follow state law in response to any federal government requests for voter information – intended to block release of some data to President Trump’s voter fraud commission.

Drew Daudelin is the managing digital editor at WFYI. In his previous roles as a reporter and producer he covered poverty, politics and city government, produced award-winning feature stories for local and national markets, and led the statewide daily talk show All IN.
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