---
type: "Bill"
title: "Conduct of primary elections."
description: "Provides that two or more candidates of a political party may sign a written statement indicating their desire to name a watcher to be present at a county primary election. (Current law requires that 26% or more of all candidates of a political party must sign a written statement to indicate a desire to name a watcher.) Allows a county chairman of a political party to appoint a watcher to each precinct in which the political party has a candidate on the ballot if two or more candidates do not sign a written statement to request a watcher."
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 199"
citation: "Indiana SB 199 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ELECTIONS; Conducting Elections (Excluding Recounts)", "ELECTIONS; Political Parties", "ELECTIONS; Primary Elections"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Linda Rogers", "Mike Gaskill", "Timothy Wesco"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-08"
last_action: "2025-04-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/dfd3925a-d34a-4b11-a373-7641b7252ed6"
source_url: "https://api.iga.in.gov/2025/bills/sb0199"
source_hash: "1b71208542a4ac8f23e6e7f9bb749c66ae7f1b40a4198886f336368c2d619c05"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana SB 199 (2025) — Conduct of primary elections.

Provides that two or more candidates of a political party may sign a written statement indicating their desire to name a watcher to be present at a county primary election. (Current law requires that 26% or more of all candidates of a political party must sign a written statement to indicate a desire to name a watcher.) Allows a county chairman of a political party to appoint a watcher to each precinct in which the political party has a candidate on the ballot if two or more candidates do not sign a written statement to request a watcher.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0199/SB0199.04.ENRH.pdf)
2. **Introduced Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0199/SB0199.01.INTR.pdf)
3. **Senate Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0199/SB0199.02.COMS.pdf)
4. **Senate Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/senate/bills/SB0199/SB0199.03.COMH.pdf)

## Votes

- SB 199 - Wesco - 3rd Reading — **90–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 199 - Gaskill - 3rd Reading — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Linda Rogers — primary (person)
- Mike Gaskill — primary (person)
- Timothy Wesco — primary (person)
- Joanna King — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-01-08** First reading: referred to Committee on Elections `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2025-01-08** Authored by Senator Gaskill
- **2025-01-14** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2025-01-16** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-01-21** House sponsor: Representative Wesco
- **2025-01-21** Cosponsor: Representative King
- **2025-01-21** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 10: yeas 49, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2025-01-22** Referred to the House `referral`
- **2025-01-21** Senator Rogers added as second author
- **2025-03-03** First reading: referred to Committee on Elections and Apportionment `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-13** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2025-03-17** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2025-03-21** Returned to the Senate without amendments `receipt`
- **2025-03-20** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 285: yeas 90, nays 0 `passage, reading-3, reading-3`
- **2025-03-24** Signed by the Speaker `passage`
- **2025-03-24** Signed by the President Pro Tempore `passage`
- **2025-03-27** Signed by the President of the Senate `passage`
- **2025-04-01** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2025-04-01** Public Law 11 `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/dfd3925a-d34a-4b11-a373-7641b7252ed6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).