Greg Ballard, a candidate for Indiana Secretary of State, is calling for a new state law to prohibit the officeholder from engaging in partisan political activity. Ballard said Wednesday that the Legislature should enact a ban on endorsing, fundraising for, or donating to political candidates by whoever holds the Secretary of State position, which oversees statewide election policies.
The former Republican Indianapolis mayor, who is running under the Lincoln Party banner, emphasized that the current practice of the Secretary of State openly supporting candidates creates "an obvious conflict of interest." Ballard stated that candidates appear on ballots overseen by an officeholder who may have endorsed or donated to their opponent, a situation he believes must cease. He has pledged that if elected, he will not endorse, donate to, or fundraise for other candidates, except when running for his own re-election. Ballard compared his proposal to the Indiana Code of Judicial Conduct’s rules against political activity by judges.
Beyond direct political endorsements, Ballard has also proposed structural changes to the state's Election and Recount Commissions to remove partisan control. He suggests replacing the current Recount Commission, which includes the Secretary of State and Republican and Democratic party appointees, with a panel of five retired judges. Similarly, he proposes that the state Election Commission, currently made up of two Republican and two Democratic appointees, be replaced with administrative law judges.
Ballard cited a specific instance in August where current Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales and GOP member Paul Mullin, serving on the Recount Commission, voted to disallow six ballots that lacked a county clerk’s stamp or signature. That decision was later overturned by the state Supreme Court, which declared state Sen. Spencer Deery a three-vote Republican primary winner. Ballard stated, "I’m suggesting that these are political bodies we need to look at differently than we have in the past." He believes these changes are necessary to give voters more confidence in the election process.
Republican nominee Max Engling’s campaign responded that Engling "has already committed to not using the official office for campaign functions because that is already the law in Indiana." Engling’s campaign also pointed to past comments by Ballard about potentially selecting future Lincoln Party candidates if his party gains automatic ballot access. Engling spokeswoman Chloe Anagnos told the Capital Chronicle that Ballard’s shift from an independent to a party label, and his prior statements about being directly involved in selecting Lincoln Party candidates, represent a "flip-flop" compared to his current pledge.
Democratic candidate Beau Bayh's campaign manager Jack Tormoehlen said that "being elected to this job should not mean giving up the ability to participate in the political process in one’s personal capacity." While advocating for taking politics out of election administration, Tormoehlen stated that an individual's right to participate in the political process should not be removed. The Bayh campaign also highlighted Beau's ethics pledge to avoid giving Secretary of State contracts to campaign donors.
Libertarian candidate Lauri Shillings critiqued Ballard’s pledge as an easy one to make, noting he currently has "no party, no structure and no candidates for his party to support." Shillings questioned the consistency of promising not to endorse candidates while simultaneously building an organization whose purpose is selecting them. Shillings said she would recuse herself from "any election matter involving a candidate I’ve endorsed or raised money for."
