Denouncing political activity by Indiana’s top elections officer, secretary of state candidate Greg Ballard is calling for a ban on partisan actions by whoever holds the office.
Ballard said Wednesday that the Legislature should enact a law prohibiting the secretary of state from endorsing, fundraising for or donating to candidates.
The former Republican Indianapolis mayor, who is running under the Lincoln Party banner, has previously proposed ending the current partisan control of the state’s Election Commission and Recount Commission by Republican and Democratic party appointees.
Ballard called the practice of a secretary of state — who oversees statewide election policies — openly supporting candidates “an obvious conflict of interest.”
“Candidates appear on ballots overseen by the secretary of state, who has endorsed or donated to their opponent, and this has to stop,” Ballard said. “I’ve been very clear, very clear, that once elected, I won’t endorse, will not donate to, I will not fundraise for other candidates. I will be out of politics, except to run for reelection.”
Ballard compared his proposal to the Indiana Code of Judicial Conduct’s prohibition on political activity by judges.
Republican nominee Max Engling’s campaign said he “has already committed to not using the official office for campaign functions because that is already the law in Indiana.”
Engling’s campaign pointed to Ballard’s comments about a role in possibly selecting future Lincoln Party candidates if it gains automatic ballot access with Ballard receiving at least 2% of the statewide vote.
“When he announced his campaign, he was going to run as an independent, now he’s running for a party label,” Engling spokeswoman Chloe Anagnos told the Capital Chronicle. “After that flip-flop, he recently stated he would be directly part of the political process of selecting candidates for the Lincoln Party, before now saying he won’t be part of the process.”
The campaign of Democratic candidate Beau Bayh, who is trying to become the party’s first statewide winner since 2012, 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.”
“We should take politics out of the administration of our elections,” Bayh campaign manager Jack Tormoehlen said. “We should not take away the right for one person to participate in the political process in the same way every other Hoosier can. Additionally, Beau has made the strongest ethics pledge in this race — no secretary of state contracts for campaign donors.”
Libertarian candidate Lauri Shillings knocked Ballard’s pledge as an easy one to make “as he has no party, no structure and no candidates for his party to support.”
“He’s promising not to endorse candidates while building an organization whose entire purpose is selecting them,” she said. “Hoosiers should know which one he means.”
Shillings said she would recuse herself from “any election matter involving a candidate I’ve endorsed or raised money for.”
Ballard’s proposals include having a panel of five retired judges form the state Recount Commission, which is now made up of the secretary of state along with one Republican Party and one Democratic Party appointee. He also has proposed replacing the state Election Commission — now consisting of two Republican and two Democratic appointees — with administrative law judges.
Ballard cited the Recount Commission’s 2-1 vote in Augustby which current Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales and GOP member Paul Mullin disallowed six ballots that lacked a county clerk’s stamp or signature.
The state Supreme Court overturned that decision and declared state Sen. Spencer Deery as a three-vote Republican primary winner over a President Donald Trump-endorsed challenger.
“I’m suggesting that these are political bodies we need to look at differently than we have in the past,” Ballard said Wednesday. “I think we need to change what we’re doing here so that voters have more confidence in what’s happening.”
This story has been updated with comment from Libertarian candidate Lauri Shillings.
Indiana Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com.
