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High court declines to hear case challenging Indiana's vote-by-mail laws

Absentee voting is limited to Hoosiers 65 and up. A lawsuit filed last year argues this age restriction infringes upon voters' right to participate in the polls.
Credit: Bob Segall
Beth Sheller holds an absentee ballot envelope marked with a red "Sign Here" stamp.

INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case challenging Indiana's vote-by-mail restrictions, a rebuff that means a federal court will decide the future of absentee voting in the state. 

The high court's decision Monday follows a federal appeals court's ruling rejecting a lawsuit that aimed to make mail-in ballots available to all Indiana voters last November due to the pandemic. 

The federal appeals court upheld Indiana’s absentee voting law, which allows only some categories of voters, including the elderly, to cast absentee ballots. The court found the right to vote does not include a right to cast a mail-in ballot. 

RELATED: Federal court rules against expanding Indiana's absentee voting, hold on how long absentee ballots can be counted

Plaintiffs argued that Indiana's age restriction for absentee voters infringes upon the constitutional right to participate in the polls.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita tweeted in support of the Supreme Court's decision. He said by letting the lower court's decision stand, the U.S. Supreme Court "rightly allowed Indiana to limit the privilege of mail-in absentee ballots to Hoosiers 65 and older (among other categories of voters)."

Now the case will pick up once again in a federal court in Indianapolis where they now will consider the lawsuit that could have a significant impact on absentee voting in Indiana.

 

 

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