The House Elections and Apportionment Committee was scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss an election bill that would require voters to add identification information for absentee ballot applications and prohibits shifting election dates, but the hearing was canceled Monday afternoon.

A spokeswoman for committee chairman Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, said the hearing was canceled because of “scheduling conflicts.” But, area Democratic officials say the bill is voter suppression, while area Republican officials say the bill limits the potential for fraud.

The bill — authored by Sens. Erin Houchin, R-Salem; Eric Koch, R-Bedford; and Jon Ford, R-Terre Haute; requires voters to write in — instead of election workers preprinting the number — their driver’s license or last four numbers of their Social Security number on the application for an absentee ballot that is on record with their county election offices.

The bill also prohibits the Indiana Election Commission from “instituting, increasing or expanding” vote-by-mail or absentee vote-by-mail and changing the time, place or manner of holding an election.

The final element of the bill prohibits the governor from changing “the time, place, or manner of holding an election” during a declared disaster emergency.

The bill passed out of the Senate Feb. 22 in a 34-15 vote.

Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, who voted against the bill in the Senate, said that while expanding vote-by-mail “has long been a mission of the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus,” the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the importance of it.

“Residents shouldn’t have to worry about possibly not being able to cast their vote for any reason — whether there’s an emergency, they have to work or they simply can’t get to a polling location,” Melton said. “If enacted, this bill would not only prohibit the election commission from expanding vote-by-mail options, but it would remove a county’s ability to preprint ID and Social Security numbers on a ballot.”

Lake County Democratic Party Chairman James Wieser said the

bill is “a solution looking for a problem,” and that U.S. elections are safe and have no evidence of widespread fraud.

“It’s just another, in a long list, of voter suppression by Republicans in the state of Indiana,” Wieser said. “There’s no other way it can be legitimately described.”

Lake County Republican Party Chairman Dan Dernulc said he hadn’t read the bill, but his initial thoughts are that the state legislature should have a say in shifting elections because the lawmakers “represent the people.”

“It’s a good way to make sure there’s no fraud,” Dernulc said.

Marjorie Hershey, professor emeriti of political science at Indiana University Bloomington, said most states with photo ID laws state a driver’s license is valid, but that eliminates people without a car. In Indiana, 10% of eligible voters lack a driver’s license because they don’t have cars, she said.

In some instances, the photo ID law allows for an alternate identification if a voter doesn’t have a driver’s license, but getting an alternate ID requires documents that some voters may not have access to, such as a birth certificate, Hershey said.

“Voter fraud is not a major problem in American elections. There have been studies after studies that have shown that in-person voter fraud at the polls, which is what these ID requirements are designed to get away from, is so minuscule that you can find only handfuls of cases among literally billions of votes cast,” Hershey said.

Michelle Fajman, director of the Lake County Election and Voter Registration Board, said the bill is “horrible” because it will disenfranchise voters.

Requiring voters to list their driver’s license or Social Security number on an absentee ballot application that is on record with the election office will create a barrier because not all voters remember which number they registered under, Fajman said.

“There’s just no reason for this other than to disenfranchise voters. Let’s call it what it is,” Fajman said. “Voting should be easier, not harder.”

Wieser said requiring driver’s license or Social Security numbers on an absentee ballot application amounts to “proof of citizenship” and is “done solely for certain classes of people.”

The governor and the secretary of state should have the ability to make decisions about an election in emergency situations, as was the case during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fajman said. In Lake County, pushing the 2020 primary election from May to June allowed the election office to secure proper protective equipment.

The legislature shouldn’t pass a bill, Fajman said, based on incident that happens once a century.

“Let it be. If an emergency comes up, discussion have to be made. We don’t have time for red tape,” Fajman said.

In an emergency situation, someone has to “make quick, difficult decisions,” Wieser said.

Not allowing the expansion of absentee balloting and prohibiting state officials from shifting election dates in an emergency is “all part of the same story” that there’s “fraud even though it was disproved,” Wieser said.

“It’s a waste of energy, it’s a waste of time, and it’s ignoring the real issues we ought to be addressing in the state of Indiana,” Wieser said.

Mike Mellon, a Republican member of the Lake County Election and Voter Registration Board, said he doesn’t want to disenfranchise voters, but the bill would maintain a similar process between absentee voting and in-person voting, which requires people to show their identification as well.

The state legislatures and courts would have to determine how to address the issue of residents without proper ID, Mellon said.

“I think it’s very important in the election process to hold everyone to the same standard,” Mellon said.