The four candidates running for Indiana Secretary of State this fall are competing for more than a statewide office. Under Indiana election law, the county-by-county results in that race determine which two political parties hold seats on all 92 county election boards, nominate precinct election officers and occupy the top two positions on the ballot for the next four years.
Indiana Code 3-5-2-30 defines a “major political party” two ways. With respect to the state, the term refers to the two parties whose nominees received the highest and second-highest number of votes statewide for Secretary of State at the last election. With respect to a political subdivision, it refers to the two parties whose nominees received the highest and second-highest number of votes in that subdivision.
Because the second definition is measured locally, a party can qualify as a major political party in one county and not in the county next to it.
The designation carries administrative power. Under IC 3-6-5-2, a county election board consists of the circuit court clerk and one appointed member for each of the county’s two major political parties. IC 3-6-5-5 directs the county chair of each major party to nominate an appointee in writing and requires the clerk to appoint whomever the chair names. Lake, Porter and Tippecanoe counties operate under separate statutes — IC 3-6-5.2, IC 3-6-5.6 and IC 3-6-5.4 — under which the county chairs appoint members directly rather than nominating them.
The same designation governs precinct-level staffing. IC 3-6-6 entitles the county chair of each major political party to nominate inspectors, judges, poll clerks and election sheriffs. It also sets ballot order. IC 3-11-13-11 and IC 3-11-14-3.5 place the party whose Secretary of State candidate received the most votes in a county first on that county’s ballot and the second-place party second.
The county designation is separate from statewide ballot access. Under IC 3-8-4-10, a party whose Secretary of State nominee receives at least 2 percent but less than 10 percent of the statewide vote may nominate candidates by convention. A party could qualify as a major political party in an individual county while remaining a minor party statewide.
Statewide results from the last Secretary of State election set the current alignment. In 2022, Republican Diego Morales received 999,893 votes, or 54.1 percent. Democrat Destiny Wells received 742,624 votes, or 40.2 percent. Libertarian Jeff Maurer received 104,519 votes, or 5.7 percent.
County-level returns from that election show Maurer did not finish second in any of Indiana’s 92 counties. His strongest counties were Morgan, at 11.9 percent, Hancock, at 11.8 percent, and Rush, at 11.3 percent. The narrowest gap statewide between the second- and third-place finishers was in Decatur County, where Wells received 21.2 percent and Maurer received 10.5 percent, a difference of about 10.7 points.
The returns also show the two major parties do not hold the same rank everywhere. Morales finished second rather than first in five counties: Marion, with 29.6 percent to Wells’ 63.6 percent; Monroe, with 31.9 percent; Lake, with 44 percent; St. Joseph, with 47.4 percent; and Tippecanoe, with 47.7 percent.
This year’s ballot includes Democrat Beau Bayh, Republican Max Engling, Libertarian Lauri Shillings and former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who qualified on the Lincoln Party line. Ballard filed 41,299 verified signatures against a requirement of 36,943, according to his campaign, which said the signatures came from 71 of Indiana’s 92 counties.
Because the Libertarian Party and the Lincoln Party are both on the ballot, a second-place finish by either in an individual county would displace one of the two major parties on that county’s election board.
The statutes contain a gap. IC 3-6-5-5 assigns the nominating power to a party’s county chair, but the election code does not address what happens if a party finishes first or second in a county and has no county organization or chair in place to make the nomination. The clerk is directed to appoint the chair’s nominee and is not authorized to fill the seat independently.
The general election is Nov. 3.
