(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — State attorneys are urging a federal judge to reject a request to block Indiana’s ban on using college identification cards to vote, arguing in new court filings that the law does not target young voters or make it harder for them to cast ballots.

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office, representing Secretary of State Diego Morales and other state defendants, asked Indiana’s Southern District Court on Friday to deny a preliminary injunction sought by student and voting rights groups challenging the policy.

The plaintiffs — Count Us IN, Women4Change Indiana and Indiana University student Josh Montagne — are trying to halt enforcement of a 2025 law that explicitly bars student college IDs from being used as voter identification at the polls.

A February request by the plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction is still pending. A status conference in the case is scheduled for June 9, but a ruling is likely to come before the upcoming May primary.

The state has argued that concerns about voter fraud, as well as the variety of student IDs, justify the ban. Their most recent filing maintains that the challengers have not shown the law violates the U.S. Constitution or that they will suffer irreparable harm before the case is resolved.

“SB 10 does not burden the right to vote,” state attorneys wrote in a new 43-page memorandum opposing the injunction. They argued that any burden created by the change is “minimal,” adding that only a small number of voters who previously relied on student IDs would be affected.

The underlying lawsuit was filed in May 2025 after Indiana lawmakers amended the state’s voter ID statute to explicitly exclude identification issued by educational institutions.

For years before that change, student IDs issued by several public universities could be used at polling places if they met state requirements. Those earlier rules allowed student IDs to be used if they included the prospective voter’s name, photo and a valid expiration date.

Voting rights advocates argue that eliminating student IDs disproportionately affects younger voters, who are less likely to possess driver’s licenses or other forms of identification.

In October, a federal judge rejected the state’s attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the constitutional claims to move forward.

Dispute over burden on voters

The plaintiffs argue the law — enacted last year as Senate Enrolled Act 10  — targets students and young voters by eliminating one of the “most accessible” forms of identification they commonly use.

They contend the change violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments and the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which prohibits voting discrimination based on age. 

Their February motion asked the court to temporarily block enforcement of the ban before the May 2026 primary election.

State lawyers, however, countered that the requirement to present other forms of identification is not a “meaningful” barrier.

“Obtaining valid voter ID is not a severe burden on the right to vote,” the state argued in the filing, noting that Indiana voters can use multiple forms of identification that satisfy the law’s requirements, including an Indiana driver’s license, a state identification card issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a U.S. passport or passport card, or certain other government-issued photo IDs that meet state criteria.

State attorneys added that voters who lack ID can receive one “at no cost,” and that the state also provides a provisional ballot process for voters who appear at the polls without identification. Those voters would have to later visit the county election office to verify their identity.

The state also disputes the claim that the law targets students or younger voters.

“SB 10 does not increase the burden on the right to vote, nor does it target students or young people,” attorneys wrote.

The attorney general’s office argued that voter participation is driven more by “motivation,” rather than administrative barriers like identification requirements.

“It is voter motivation, not the need to obtain a photo ID, that is the decisive factor in voter participation,” the state wrote, citing decades of academic research on voting reforms that found “negligible effects on turnout.”

Attorneys pointed to testimonies from the student plaintiffs, arguing that neither of the two Indiana University students deposed in the case had taken steps to obtain a driver’s license or state ID. 

“For both students, the obstacle is not time, money, or lack of access to documents,” the filing said. “They simply don’t want to be responsible for keeping their identifying documents secure.”

State cites election administration interests

Indiana officials also defended the change as a policy decision intended to address concerns about the consistency and reliability of student identification cards.

They argued that state lawmakers had legitimate reasons for excluding student IDs from the list of acceptable voter identification.

“Student identification cards are not issued under any statewide election or motor vehicle legal standard, do not require proof of citizenship, lawful presence, or Indiana residency, and vary significantly by institution in format, security features, and issuance procedures,” the filing said.

Indiana’s voter ID law, though, is meant only to verify identification.

According to the state, the law advances several interests, including improving “uniformity” in acceptable voter IDs and simplifying election administration.

Attorneys also said the plaintiffs’ claims that the law was designed to “suppress” student voting are unsupported.

The state further argued that courts should be cautious about altering election rules close to an election — invoking the so-called “Purcell principle,” a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court doctrine which warns against late judicial changes to voting procedures that could confuse voters and election officials.

State lawyers also questioned whether the organizations bringing the lawsuit have the legal standing required to pursue the claims. They argued the groups have not demonstrated that anyone they serve will be unable to vote because of the law.

The attorney general’s office contends, too, the sweeping relief requested by the plaintiffs — a statewide order preventing enforcement of the law — would be improper.

Their filing argues that the groups “have not identified a single person who lacks another form of ID or will be unable to obtain another form of ID” because of the law.

Pending further action from the court, a full trial in the case is scheduled for January 2027.

An elderly couple died after a possible tornado ripped through the town.

The couple’s family said they’re shocked that Tuesday night’s tornado leveled their grandparents’ home and took their lives.

“Obviously, we’ve never seen anything remotely resembling this,” said son-in-law Steve Rhefeldt.

A place that Ed Kozlowski, 89, and his wife, Arlene, 86, once called home is now gone.

“They were wonderful, just really wonderful human beings. You know, tough old guy and sweet old lady,” he said.

The Indiana Urban Search and Rescue team was spotted on Wednesday sifting through the debris along with Rhefeldt and his son, Matthew, who traveled from Peotone to see the damage.

The elderly couple was unable to get out of the debris alive. Relatives believe that everything happened within the blink of an eye.

“They’ve lived a good life, and boy, you kind of… I have to imagine this was just “hey, what’s going on?” and it was over that quick,” Steve said.

The family said they were in the process of planning Ed’s 90th birthday at the home the couple had lived in for years. Everything the couple built is now gone.

“We were talking on the way here. These cars, there’s big heavy V8 engines in big trucks, and the wind is literally taking his car, which was parked somewhere, maybe right there, and taking it and flipping it upside down,” Steve said.

The couple had four kids, seven grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Lake Village was left with extensive damage that crews are just starting to clear. Steven Travis said he survived the tornado but lost everything.

“Roof’s gone all in 20 seconds. I walked in the bedroom, got knocked down, climbed in the closet, and it was over. Come back out, climbed out, and the roof’s gone, everything. Trees are down, windows blowed out. Lost everything,” Steven said.

North Newton High School in Lake Village is serving as an emergency shelter for anyone displaced by the storm. The Lake Village Fire Department is also serving as a rallying point.

Newton County officials confirmed that more than 100 buildings were damaged in Lake Village and more than 30 were destroyed.

CHICAGO (WLS) — Suspected tornadoes have left extensive damage in Kankakee County in Illinois and into neighboring Indiana Tuesday.

The storms also produced hail ranging in size from two to four inches, the National Weather Service said. The NWS said the largest hailstone produced was six inches in diameter, which fell in Kankakee. The NWS said the hailstone may be a state record for Illinois.

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The NWS said a supercell that went from Pontiac, Illinois to Pontiac, Indiana spawned at least four tornadoes in Pontiac and south of Kankakee in Illinois and Lake Village an Wheatfield in Indiana.

The NWS is sending survey teams to the area Wednesday to investigate the damage.

Search crews worked late into the night looking for people who may have been left trapped by the storm damage as severe weather hit the Kankakee area.

The area in Aroma Park along Sandbar Road was one of the places hardest hit.

Dangerous weather ripped through the area leaving a path of destruction.

The powerful storms driving rain and gusting winds downed at least a half dozen power lines that were snapped in half by gusting winds.

One homeowner says the storm blew out windows and leveled a two-story barn.

A concrete silo was also destroyed.

The fire lieutenant says a man did have to be rescued from the basement of a home with heavy damage. But otherwise, I have not heard of any serious injuries from the storm.

The American Red Cross has set up a shelter at Kankakee Community College for those impacted by the storms.

There has also been major damage across the state line in Indiana. Most of the damage is in the town of Lake Village.

Video shows a number of homes and buildings destroyed.

The local fire department says a tornado had a wide path of destruction and continued for several miles.

So far, officials said there have been only a few minor injuries.

They said the tornado sirens went off with plenty of time to alert people in the area.

People impacted by the storm can go to North Newton High School for support.

People living in Kankakee described the hail as almost as large as their hands, pounding the pavement and causing extensive damage.

“As if I have a bulletproof car and somebody was, like, shooting a machine gun or something like that. That’s how hard it was hitting,” Jon Robicheaux said.

Some car windows were left shattered.

“It just kept tearing into my front windshield,” Robicheaux said. “The back went out first, and it kept hitting the front. And it constantly got damaged.”

He had to pull over to find shelter.

“And I was kind of scared a tornado would’ve came over me while I was parked because I couldn’t see anything,” Robicheaux said.

Some cars in the west suburbs were damaged, as well, after golf ball- to baseball-sized hail fell.

One large chunk of hail came down on Gabrielle Zinkel’s car as she was driving home to Homer Glen from work in Downers Grove, shattering her back windshield.

“It sounded exactly like bullets hitting your car. Like, I was like, did my windshield just get shot through? Like what just happened? Because I did not think. I was like, OK, I’m going to come through this with some dents. But I didn’t think that this thing would hit my windshield and crack it right open,” Zinkel said.

There was also heavy rain and hail in parts of the city.

The hail sent people scrambling around dusk.

ComEd said as of 5 a.m., about 27,000 customers were impacted by the storm, with power restored to all but about 4,000 customers. Those without power were mainly in Kankakee County.

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