Nine BMV Renewals, None Reaching Two Years: The Documentary Pattern in the Kupce / Morales Story

When Indy Politics reported Monday on Elina Kupce — the former $160,000-a-year Deputy Chief of Staff to Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales whose Indiana driver’s license carries a restriction the state applies to non-U.S. citizens — the central documentary evidence was the BMV record. A closer review of Kupce’s full credential history at the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, alongside the complete APRA response from the Indiana State Personnel Department, sharpens the question raised by Monday’s piece. The Office of the Secretary of State has spent more than a year demanding citizenship scrutiny of Indiana voters. The State of Indiana, through its own motor vehicle agency, was documenting its second-ranking official in that office as a non-citizen for the entire duration of her employment — and for more than a decade before it.

The renewal pattern

The Indiana BMV publishes its rules in plain text. A standard Indiana driver’s license issued to a holder under 75 years of age is valid for six years. Driver’s licenses issued to “foreign nationals with temporary status,” in the BMV’s own language, “expire on the end date of their lawful stay in the United States.” Foreign nationals must visit a branch and “provide documentation of identity, lawful status, proof of Social Security Number (or proof of ineligibility) and Indiana residency for each renewal transaction.”

Kupce’s BMV record shows nine consecutive driver’s license renewals between February 2014 and April 2026. Not one reached two years.

Every one of the nine licenses carried the same restriction. Each license issued to Kupce from February 2014 forward — without exception — bore Restriction 9, the BMV code applied to licenses issued to non-U.S. citizens.

Across more than twelve years and nine separate transactions, every Indiana driver’s license issued to Elina Kupce expired on a date tied to something other than the six-year cycle the state applies to U.S. citizens. Each of those nine renewals also represents, under the BMV’s published procedure, a separate in-person visit during which Kupce would have presented current proof of lawful immigration status to a BMV branch employee.

The State of Indiana, through its motor vehicle agency, was documenting Kupce as a non-citizen across the entire period covering her two and a half years on the State of Indiana payroll — and for more than a decade preceding it.

The day-after renewal

The most recent of the nine renewals warrants particular attention.

Kupce’s resignation from state employment was effective April 29, 2026. Communications Director Lindsey Eaton confirmed that date in a May 14 email. State Personnel Department Counsel Kirollos Barsoum confirmed it again in a May 14 APRA response: “Dates of first and last employment with the State: 10/30/2023 – 04/29/2026 (resigned).”

The Indiana BMV issued Kupce a new driver’s license the following day. The license, issued April 30, 2026 and valid through April 29, 2027, represents a transaction during which Kupce, by the BMV’s published rule, presented current documentation of lawful immigration status to a BMV branch employee on the day after her last day as a State of Indiana employee. That documentation, whatever it shows, was valid as of the day after her resignation.

Indy Politics is not in a position to characterize the underlying immigration document. The State of Indiana, through both the BMV and the Personnel Department, is. Neither has volunteered any information about it.

What the State did not say

The APRA response from the Indiana State Personnel Department includes two answers that warrant attention for what they do not contain.

Asked whether Kupce completed Form I-9 employment eligibility verification and whether her employment authorization was verified through E-Verify, the Personnel Department wrote that I-9 and authorization records are “not listed as an exception to the IC 5-14-3-4(b)(8) personnel file exception” — that is, that such records are disclosable — and added that “the Indiana State Personnel Department verifies employment eligibility for all state employees hired.” The response describes the general practice of the agency. It does not affirmatively state that Kupce’s I-9 form is on file. It does not produce the form.

Asked whether Kupce is currently lawfully present in the United States and authorized to work, the Personnel Department wrote that it “does not maintain records related to the whereabouts of previous State employees.” The question concerned status, not location.

Two master’s degrees, both “in progress,” nine and fifteen years on

The complete work history released by the Personnel Department also lists two graduate programs for Kupce. Both are marked “In progress.” Neither shows a completion date.

The first, a Master of Arts in Public Relations and Advertising at Purdue University, is listed as “August 2011 – January 2012 (In progress).” The second, the same degree at Indiana University–Purdue University, is listed as “August 2016 – January 2017 (In progress).” Each window spans approximately five months. Neither corresponds to the duration of a graduate program. Both end nearly a decade before the Personnel Department released the records.

The State of Indiana accepted a resume listing two unfinished master’s programs, along with a co-ownership claim (“Solvega’s Elite Cleaning Service | Co Owner and Vice President | Jan 2000 – Current”) that placed Kupce as a small-business co-owner at age twelve, and treated the document as part of Kupce’s file for a $160,000 position. The position was not publicly posted. The Personnel Department, asked what relevant prior experience Kupce brought to the role, referred Indy Politics back to this work history.

Questions referred to the Secretary of State

The Personnel Department referred three categories of questions to the Secretary of State’s office.

Whether the office has received any communication from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, or any other federal or state agency regarding Kupce’s immigration status or work authorization at any point during her employment.

Whether Secretary Morales, members of his staff, or members of his family have planned, scheduled, or undertaken official or unofficial travel to Romania in 2026, and the purpose, dates, funding source, and participants of any such travel.

Whether any federal or state agency raised questions or concerns regarding the immigration status or work authorization of Kupce or any other staff member in the course of planning any such travel.

The Secretary of State’s office has not responded to those questions. Eaton’s May 14 email stated that the office “has received no communication from state or federal agencies in reference to Ms. Kupce.” She did not address the Romania travel questions or the broader question about communications regarding other staff.

The deadline

The Indiana Republican State Convention is scheduled for June 20 in Fort Wayne. Candidates seeking the party’s nomination for Secretary of State must file their candidacy with the Indiana Republican Party by 5 p.m. Thursday, May 21. Secretary Morales, Knox County Clerk David Shelton, and conservative activist Jamie Reitenour have filed.

Indy Politics is told that senior Indiana Republican Party figures, in the days since Monday’s article, have been actively working to recruit an additional candidate to file before the deadline. Sources familiar with the discussions describe the effort as urgent and ongoing as of Wednesday afternoon.

The deadline is approximately thirty hours from publication of this article.

This is a developing story and will continue to be updated as additional information becomes available.