Voting-rights advocate Julia Vaughn says Indiana’s political class is pouring energy into imagined threats at the ballot box while ignoring the real work of making elections fairer and more competitive.

In a follow-up conversation after a federal judge blocked the state’s attempt to use the federal SAVE immigration database to purge alleged non-citizen voters, Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, said the ruling is just one skirmish in a much larger fight over how Hoosiers vote and who gets a voice.

Vaughn argues that years of rhetoric about non-citizen voting have created a problem in public perception, not in the polling place.

Organizations as ideologically different as the Brennan Center for Justice and the Cato Institute have found non-citizen voting to be “astonishingly small,” she noted, with no evidence it affects outcomes. Indiana officials, however, have continued to pursue tools like the SAVE database and new documentary proof-of-citizenship laws.

“We have problems with elections in Indiana, but ineligible people participating is not one of them,” Vaughn said.

Those policies, she says, fall hardest on naturalized citizens, who are more likely to be flagged and forced to prove they belong on the rolls.

Vaughn describes the effort as a “snipe hunt” — a politically useful story that wastes time and resources while feeding suspicion of immigrants and new Americans. She says that instead of chasing rare or nonexistent cases, lawmakers should be focused on basic access: making it easier to register, to stay registered, and to cast a ballot that counts.

She is also sharply critical of what she sees as a rigged political environment that limits both voter choice and real competition.

Indiana’s ballot access rules require independent statewide candidates to gather tens of thousands of signatures. Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, now running independently for Secretary of State, appears likely to clear the 37,000-signature hurdle, but Vaughn says that doesn’t mean the system is fair.

“If you’re a grassroots candidate and you were trying to do this with volunteers, well, good luck. That is a really, really high mountain to climb,” she said.

She argues that supermajority control of the General Assembly, combined with gerrymandered districts, has turned many general elections into formalities. In those seats, the only real contest is the primary — and those primaries are dominated by the most partisan voters.

Vaughn is particularly wary of Republican talk of closing primaries to only registered party members, a move she says would further shut out the growing share of Hoosiers who identify as independent.

“You’re going to make these even more exclusive affairs than they are already… and yet you know these two parties want all taxpayers to pay for it,” she said.

Looking back on decades at the Statehouse, Vaughn recalls a time when the Senate was narrowly divided and the House majority shifted, forcing legislators to debate in public and compromise.

Today’s supermajorities, she says, can “run roughshod over everything,” and even Republicans who show independence — such as those who recently rejected mid-cycle redistricting — risk being punished at the polls.

Despite her criticisms, Vaughn insists she remains hopeful. She sees signs of greater public engagement and is watching closely as the Secretary of State race shapes up with Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and potentially independent candidates.

Her immediate advice to voters is practical: check your registration early and often. She says Common Cause Indiana is already hearing “crazy stories” of longtime voters disappearing from the rolls, and she expects a turbulent campaign season.

“Individuals are just going to need to stay aware during this election season because it’s going to be crazy,” Vaughn said.