Some of the bills that lost support or changed through the process included measures to cut the state’s early in-person voting days in half, SB 284; force primary voters to register with political parties, SB 201; and move all city and town elections to presidential election years, SB 355.
Both the early voting days reduction and closed political primaries legislation did not come up for a vote on the Senate floor before the session’s first half deadline.
They would’ve faced a difficult road in the House, where Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) said he doesn’t see the need for changes.
“I think our election laws have been good. I think our election laws have been well-regarded nationally. We seem to run good, efficient elections,” Huston said.
The Senate did send some significant election reforms to the House. The bill moving all local elections to presidential ballots now allows towns to opt out of the shift, and cities would have to opt in to move their elections at all.
Join the conversation and sign up for our weekly text group: the Indiana Two-Way. Your comments and questions help us find the answers you need on statewide issues, including our project Civically, Indiana and our 2025 bill tracker.
Another bill, SB 287, would force school board races to become partisan. But Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) said he knows that measure will be a challenging one in the opposite chamber.
“But these are some things that people think are important and we debate them and decide whether they can move forward,” Bray said.
The House had its own partisan school boards bill, HB 1230, which it did not bring up for a vote on the floor. And it debated legislation to move municipal elections to presidential election years, HB 1633, but turned the measure into a study on the issue.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
Copyright 2025 IPB News
