Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales poses outside the White House during a meeting with federal officials this week focused on election security. Provided image
Secretary of State Diego Morales this week added to his extensive travels a third White House visit in the past six months — this time to participate in a "high-level" briefing concerning elections.
The first-term Republican, who serves as Indiana's chief elections officer, said afterward he's confident the administration of Republican President Donald Trump is committed to safeguarding the voter registration process by ensuring only eligible U.S. citizens are listed on the voter rolls.
"We are excited to finally have a federal administration taking this issue seriously. Hoosiers expect and deserve to have full confidence in the election process," Morales said.
Last year, Morales and Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita, a former secretary of state, publicly questioned the citizenship of 585,774 registered Hoosier voters — or more than 12% of Indiana's electorate — because they initially registered to vote in Indiana, possibly decades ago, without submitting a state-issued driver's license or identification card as part of the registration process.
Morales has since secured preliminary access to a federal immigration database to attempt to verify the citizenship status of some registered Indiana voters who were born in other countries, such as Morales, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Guatemala.
"Indiana continues to be a national leader in election integrity. We are taking meaningful steps to make certain only U.S. citizens are registering and voting in our elections," Morales said.
Under state law, non-citizens are prohibited from voting in Indiana elections. Doing so is a level 6 felony punishable by up to 2½ years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
An election fraud database maintained by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, shows zero incidents of non-citizen voting in Indiana this century.
In fact, an Indiana secretary of state — Republican Charlie White in 2012 — has been convicted of voter fraud more recently than any identified case of a non-citizen voting in the Hoosier State.
Morales, meanwhile, has faced criticism from some state lawmakers for his extensive domestic and international travels, including recent visits to Hungary, India and Germany.
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