INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - An Indiana House committee chairman plans to block a bill that would allow the votes of dead people to count.
Republican Elections Committee chairman Milo Smith says he doesn't plan to allow a committee hearing or vote on the bill in the coming weeks. The Senate voted 45-2 last month in favor of the bill that requires election officials to count absentee ballots "marked and forwarded" by Indiana voters who then die before Election Day.
Smith told The (Northwest Indiana) Times that he based his decision on an opinion from Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill saying the legislation is unconstitutional because a deceased person is not considered an Indiana resident.
Supporters say it is burdensome for county-level elections officials to track whether absentee voters have died.
