Attorney General Todd Rokita said he intends to use the results of a citizenship status review of nearly 600,000 Indiana registered voters for possible criminal prosecutions.

Rokita sidestepped taking a position on whether three justices on the Indiana Supreme Court, which sanctioned him last year, should win statewide retention votes while he spoke with reporters Thursday about receiving the Indiana State Police Alliance’s endorsement for his reelection.

Voter citizenship review

Rokita said  his office had not yet received a response to an Oct. 11 letter he and Secretary of State Diego Morales, a fellow Republican, sent to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking the review.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Rokita stated that completing the citizenship status review of 585,774 voters — about 12% of Indiana’s total — by Nov. 5 would not prevent action against any noncitizens who vote .

“If I don’t get it before the election, I’m going to get an answer after, and then I’m going to be able to compare that answer — who was a citizen, who wasn’t — to who voted and who didn’t,” Rokita said. “It is a felony in the state of Indiana to vote if you’re not a citizen.

“Now that I’ll have the data and the forensic evidence to compare after the election, I’ll be working with our prosecutors to enforce that law,” he said.

Democrats and voting-rights activists criticized the request as a political stunt intended to undermine the legitimacy of the election and intimidate voters to suppress turnout.

 “Todd Rokita’s attempt to purge voters just days before an election — while he’s on the ballot — shows a clear conflict of interest and an overreach of his authority,” Democratic attorney general nominee Destiny Wells said in a statement to State Affairs. “This is not about protecting election integrity; it’s about political manipulation.”

The federal agency has not responded to questions from State Affairs about how quickly the requested review could be completed.

State Police Alliance endorsement

The Indiana State Police Alliance, which represents state troopers, decided to support Rokita’s reelection bid without considering an endorsement of Democratic nominee Destiny Wells because she did not request it, said Cory Martin, the group’s executive director.

Martin cited what he called Rokita’s “commitment to fight lawlessness in our communities and empowering our members to do their job” for the endorsement decision.

“The chief reason was to continue a working relationship that has been critical in advancing law enforcement in Indiana,” Martin said.

Wells countered with criticism of Rokita for filing lawsuits or threatening legal action against the Monroe County, South Bend and Seymour police agencies alleging noncompliance with a state law requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials. 

“Todd Rokita’s political endorsements mean little when his actions show a pattern of attacking law enforcement agencies that don’t align with his agenda,” Wells said. “While he’s busy threatening lawsuits against law enforcement agencies across the state, my record shows that I’ve defended police officers in court as the government’s attorney.”

Supreme Court retention votes

Three members of the Indiana Supreme Court — Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justices Mark Massa and Derek Molter — are on the statewide election ballot for 10-year retention votes.

Massa and Molter were part of a 3-2 court majority that issued a reprimand against Rokita for professional misconduct last year over comments he made to Fox News about Dr. Caitlin Bernard after she provided an abortion to a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim. Rush and another justice said they believed the reprimand was too lenient.

Morales this week urged voters to support retaining the three justices, who were appointed by Republican governors.

Rokita has faced additional scrutiny from the state’s attorney disciplinary commission over a defiant statement he released after the reprimand. 

Asked Thursday whether he supported retention of the justices, Rokita replied, “We practice before these people all the time and I have no comment, or no complaint, with any of them.”

“I want the voters to decide this. We will work with all judges across the state, and we’ll continue to do it all the time,” he said. “I think that’s the most appropriate response for me. The voters need to know these judges. We haven’t always agreed. They’ve agreed some of the time with our cases. They haven’t agreed some of the time.”

New misconduct grievance filed

Rokita brushed off a misconduct grievance filed last week with the attorney disciplinary commission by attorney and political commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz.

It alleges Rokita wrongly discussed information from Wells’ 2019 letter resigning from the attorney general’s office over a pay dispute during a televised debate with her this month.

“I don’t find him legitimate. If you listen to Abdul, you’re listening to the village idiot,” Rokita said.

Rokita maintained that he did nothing wrong and that the grievance was an example of “weaponization” of the courts.

“We were at a political debate, so there’s an issue of political speech there, for sure, that’s protected by our Constitution and, also, I’m allowed to look at the files of my own office, right?” Rokita said.

Shabazz said constitutional free-speech protections don’t give Rokita the right to talk in public about material from a confidential personnel file. 

“I’ll probably be the village idiot who still has a law license next year,” Shabazz told State Affairs. “We have a duty and a responsibility to weed out bad actors in our profession, and I firmly believe Todd Rokita is a bad actor.”

Tom Davies is a Statehouse reporter for State Affairs Pro Indiana. Reach him at [email protected] or on X at @TomDaviesIND.

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