Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D) is reportedly considered an “inactive” voter in Indiana where he is mounting a late campaign to win his Senate seat.
Bayh has twice been listed as an inactive voter since leaving office, in July 2014 and last week, according to records reported by CNN on Thursday.
{mosads}Election officials sent Bayh’s Indianapolis address multiple postcards to determine that he actually lives there; in both instances, the office couldn’t reach Bayh to confirm his residence, according to the network.
That prompted election officials in Indiana to list him as inactive, according to CNN, which noted that he is still a registered voter and can cast a ballot. The inactive listing is the first step toward being removed from the voter rolls.
The news comes on the heels of a report earlier this week that found since Bayh left office in 2011 he listed two multimillion-dollar homes in Washington as his main residences, not his Indianapolis condo.
The campaign of Rep. Todd Young (R), whom Bayh is challenging to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), blasted Bayh after that report, telling CNN, “The only time he ever shows up in Indiana is when he wants something from us.”
But Bayh spokesman Ben Ray told CNN that critics were trying to “make a mountain out of a molehill” on the voter status.
“Congressman Young’s party bosses realized as far back as 1988 that the only way they can beat Evan Bayh is to take the choice away from voters, and they’ve been trying and failing to do that ever since,” Ray said.
Bayh led Young by 7 points, 48 to 41 percent, in a Monmouth University poll released this week.