Judge denies Curtis Hill's challenge to agreement for early voting sites in Marion County

A federal judge Thursday denied Attorney General Curtis Hill's attempt to challenge an agreement to add early voting sites in Marion County.

The attorney general's office then appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker last month approved a consent decree reached by plaintiffs Common Cause Indiana and the Indianapolis NAACP and the defendant, the Marion County Election Board. The agreement calls for adding more early voting sites and is in response to a 2017 lawsuit over voting rights.

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In a filing Tuesday seeking to amend the agreement, the attorney general argued that it was against the public interest "for a federal court to enter, enforce, and monitor a consent decree that dictates the operations of state-run elections."

Barker disagreed on Thursday.

"That is not a cogent objection to the consent decree; it is the expression of a preference by the attorney general for federal noninterference in voting rights cases generally," Barker wrote in her ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. "The state’s lawyers may entertain what preferences they will, but violations of federal rights justify the imposition of federal remedies."

The attorney general also argued that the consent decree cannot replace an election board's legal requirement to decide unanimously to create early voting sites. Solicitor General Thomas Fisher at a news conference Thursday re-iterated that the attorney general's office is not trying to block the addition of early voting sites but rather defend state law that requires the board to unanimously agree on adding sites.

Hill said the election board had not sufficiently demonstrated unanimous agreement to the consent decree.

"The state is incorrect," Barker wrote in her decision. "The consent decree was tendered jointly by all parties, that is by all plaintiffs and all defendants, who are the election board."

In a later filing Thursday, Hill said the consent decree itself did not state that it was unanimously approved by the election board.

The initial lawsuit, filed in May 2017, argued that the county's failure to provide adequate voting locations had suppressed rights among minority communities.

The consent decree stipulated that the election board would establish five new locations for the November election and included additional guidelines for future primary and general elections.

Fisher said that stipulation violates Indiana law.

Indiana law, Hill's office says, requires a county election board to authorize such voting locations each election cycle rather than in perpetuity.

"Our concern is that this injunction requires a specified number of satellite early voting precincts indefinitely," Fisher said.

Hill in a court filing Thursday argued that because the consent decree overrides state law, it is valid only if a violation of federal law has occurred. Neither the consent decree nor the election board has explained how the consent decree is necessary to remedy a violation of federal law, the filing said.

The attorney general's Tuesday court filing initially challenging the consent decree received rebukes from a government watchdog, the local NAACP branch, the Marion County Election Board and the state’s top election official, Secretary of State Connie Lawson.

Lawson, who is a Republican like Hill, called the attorney general's action "reckless" and said she was not notified of his Tuesday filing in advance.

Asked for a yes or no answer on whether the secretary of state was notified, Fisher said: "We have given the office of the secretary of state every professional courtesy reasonable under the circumstances."

Hill on Tuesday also asked the court for a 30-day extension to appeal the judge's approval of the consent decree. Barker on Thursday ruled the request moot, saying Hill's office still has time to file an appeal on that request in U.S. District Court because of his appeal to the Court of Appeals to amend the decree.

Contact Mark Alesia at 317-444-6311. Follow him on Twitter: @markalesia.

Contact Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.

Early voting locations and hours

The following locations will be available to voters between Oct. 26 and Nov. 4:

Washington Township Government Center, 5302 N. Keystone Avenue, Suite B.

Lawrence Education and Community Center, 6501 Sunnyside Road.

Perry Township Government Center, 4925 Shelby St., No. 200.

Franklin Township Annex Learning Center, 6019 S. Franklin Road.

Eugene and Marilyn Glick Technology Center, 2620 N. Meridian St.

International Marketplace Coalition, 3685 Commercial Drive.

These locations will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. Hours for early voting at the City-County Building Downtown have not yet been announced.