Lincoln Party Secretary of State candidate Greg Ballard said Friday he is considering appealing his loss to the Indiana Election Commission once the election is over. He said the purpose would be to change how the commission handles future cases, not to affect this race.
“In my own mind, I’m debating whether we should do this on November 4 or 5, appeal that to see if there’s something we should do for the future, and not allow them to do this sort of thing into the future,” Ballard told Indy Politics.
A Marion Superior Court judge recently denied Ballard’s request for a preliminary injunction against the commission. Ballard said the commission’s political appointees “ran out the clock” on his campaign. He said the court’s main reason for denying relief was that there was no longer time to make changes.
Ballard spoke during a lunch stop at Pizza King in Plainfield. The restaurant drew criticism online after it posted about a visit Tuesday from Democratic nominee Beau Bayh, WTHR reported. The restaurant later said the post was not an endorsement and that all candidates are welcome.
Ballard said he came to show support for the restaurant’s owner and general manager. “I don’t know why people would do that just when somebody drops in to have some lunch,” he said.
Asked how he expects to do Tuesday, Ballard said he did not know. He noted that public polling was taken before his campaign began statewide television advertising. A Free Press Indiana poll released Oct. 16 and a Hoosier Leadership for America poll taken in late September each showed him at 5%.
Ballard said he hopes to reach 10%. Under Indiana law, a party whose secretary of state candidate receives at least 10% of the vote must nominate its candidates through a primary election.
“I’d love to get in the primary system with the 10% at this point in time,” Ballard said. “That would send a pretty big signal to others.”
Ballard also responded to claims that he is a spoiler pulling votes from Republican nominee Max Engling. He argued that his candidacy is the reason incumbent Diego Morales is not on the ballot. He said his campaign concluded a year ago that Morales would lose a three-way race, and that Republicans “figured that out last May.” Engling replaced Morales as the GOP nominee at the party’s June convention.
Ballard said more than half the money his campaign raised went to collecting petition signatures to get on the ballot. He said that effort consumed the campaign through the summer and “was all hands on deck. We weren’t really campaigning at all.”
Ballard said he cast his own ballot Thursday. He brought in a filled-out sample of the precinct-specific voter guide he has proposed the state mail to every voter. He said the guide has been “a big hit” with everyone except the two major parties.
He also criticized the Indiana Recount Commission’s handling of the Senate District 23 primary contest. He called the commission’s actions political and noted that the Indiana Supreme Court reversed its decision.
Asked whether he would like to see the Lincoln Party win seats on county election boards, Ballard said he would. County election board seats go to the parties whose secretary of state candidates finish in the top two.
Ballard also repeated his proposal to have retired judges serve on the Recount Commission, and said minor parties should have more say on election boards and commissions.
Ballard said the long early-voting lines remind him of 2020. “People are coming out, and that usually means they’re voting against something,” he said.
Ballard is running against Engling, Bayh and Libertarian Lauri Shillings. Election Day is Tuesday.
