Seven Days Later, Diego Responds

Seven days after IndyPolitics first reported on Elina Kupce — and twelve days after his office was formally cc’d on the public-records questions about her — Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales finally responded Tuesday.

Twice. In two different statements. And in neither one did he say the one thing that would end the story.

Kupce, the former $160,000-a-year deputy chief of staff in the office that serves as Indiana’s chief elections authority, holds an Indiana driver’s license that clearly identifies her as a non-citizen. She resigned April 29, “citing personal reasons,” according to the morning statement from Communications Director Lindsey Eaton.

The official statement confirms Kupce “was legally authorized to work at all times during her employment.” What it carefully does not say is that she is a U.S. citizen — a fact already settled by the non-citizen designation on her own Indiana driver’s license.

Instead, the office points to the Indiana State Personnel Department, noting INSPD “is a state agency independent of the Secretary of State’s office” and that INSPD cleared Kupce on October 12, 2023. The statement closes by invoking U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity law, which forbids asking job applicants about citizenship — a true but tangential point, since federal law separately requires every employer to verify work authorization through Form I-9, and Indiana state agencies use E-Verify. Asked specifically whether Kupce’s I-9 was completed and her authorization verified through E-Verify, INSPD answered generically that it “verifies employment eligibility for all state employees” — not that hers specifically was.

Here is the morning statement in full:

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (May 26, 2026) – Ms. Elina Kupce was employed by the Secretary of State’s office from October 2023 through April 2026. She was legally authorized to work at all times during her employment with our office.

Like all employees of our office, prior to her employment, the Indiana State Personnel Department (INSPD) completed pre-hire checks including a) verification of citizenship or legal residency status; b) verification of work authorization; c) criminal history check; d) verification of education, and; e) verification of previous employment. INSPD is a state agency independent of the Secretary of State’s office.

The Secretary of State’s office provided Ms. Kupce’s employment application and credentials to INSPD Human Resources Department on October 2, 2023.

On October 12, 2023, INSPD advised the Secretary of State’s office that Ms. Kupce’s pre-employment checks had been completed, were satisfactory, and that our office was authorized to extend an offer of employment to her.

Ms. Kupce submitted her resignation on April 29, 2026, citing personal reasons. Any suggestion that Ms. Kupce was not legally authorized to work for the state is uninformed and irresponsible.

Under U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity law, employers are forbidden to ask a potential employee if they are a US Citizen as a condition of hiring or before extending an employment offer.

Ms. Kupce was a highly regarded member of our staff and provided valuable services to the agency, and to the state.

What the morning statement does not address are the three questions INSPD itself redirected to Morales’ office on May 14:

  • Whether the office received any communication from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, or any other federal or state agency concerning Kupce’s immigration status or work authorization during her employment.
  • Whether Secretary Morales, members of his staff, or members of his family planned, scheduled, or undertook any official or unofficial travel to Romania in 2026 — and if so, the purpose, dates, funding source, and participants.
  • Whether, in the course of planning any such travel, any federal or state agency raised questions or concerns regarding the immigration status or work authorization of Kupce or any other staff member.

Twelve days later, none of those questions have been answered.

INSPD’s response did, however, confirm a few other facts now on the record. The deputy chief of staff position Kupce occupied was never publicly posted. Her listed prior experience includes co-ownership of a cleaning service since 2000, marketing and player relations work with the Pacers and Fever more than a decade ago, a sales lead position at Aldo, and event work — with no prior government service of any kind. Two master’s degrees are listed as “in progress,” one from Purdue (2011–2012) and one from IUPUI (2016–2017). Neither is shown as completed.

The morning statement calls any suggestion Kupce wasn’t legally authorized to work “uninformed and irresponsible.” It does not call her a citizen of the United States — because her own Indiana driver’s license already says otherwise.

Then came the text message.

A few hours after his office’s written statement landed in reporters’ inboxes, Morales personally blast-texted Republican convention delegates with a campaign message under the “Paid For By Diego For Indiana” disclaimer. It is, in effect, the Secretary’s second response of the day — and his unfiltered one.

In the text, Morales blames State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, “a close ally of Rod Bray,” for the controversy, framing it as political retribution for his support of President Trump’s congressional redistricting push. He does not mention IndyPolitics. He does not mention Sen. Jim Banks or Attorney General Todd Rokita, both of whom pulled their endorsements last week. He does not mention the three unanswered INSPD questions.

He does, however, volunteer the following about himself: “I’m a naturalized American citizen, I worked for this state and honorably served in the U.S. military while going through the LEGAL immigration process. I played by the rules.”

That is the sentence that says everything by not saying it about someone else.

Here is the campaign text in full:

Delegates,

Over this Memorial day weekend, while we were honoring the fallen and their sacrifice, State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, a close ally of Rod Bray, sent out a blatantly FALSE and politically motivated attack on me and my office for doing something nearly every Republican official in Indiana has done.

The employee of my office that was the subject of Mr. Elliott’s attack was cleared to work by the Indiana State Personnel Department HR division. She was fully lawfully work-authorized under state law. The agency that cleared her to work in my office handles background checks and work-authorization verification for State Agencies, including mine. Thousands of state workers go through this process before they can be hired. We followed the legal process and we followed the law. Period. Anyone suggesting otherwise is either misinformed or deliberately misleading Hoosiers.

You may ask why my office and myself are being targeted by political insiders and power-brokers and I believe the answer is clear. I stood with President Trump and supported REDRAWING OUR CONGRESSIONAL MAPS while Treasurer Daniel Elliott stood with Rod Bray in opposition to the President and redrawing the maps. This is nothing more than political retribution for me standing with our great President against those who fiercely opposed him.

Let me say this loud and clear, I will always choose to do what’s right for the people of Indiana and no political pressure or politically motivated attacks on me or my office will persuade me from doing what’s right, not now, not ever.

HERE ARE THE FACTS: Mr. Elliott either does not know hiring procedures of Indiana State Government or willfully took a cheap shot at me in a text someone wrote for him to score political points and tarnish our record of success for the people of Indiana and the integrity of our elections.

FACT: I am the ONLY candidate for Secretary of State who has ever won a statewide election, visited every single one of Indiana’s 92 counties multiple times, and has faithfully served the Republican cause and President Trump while delivering numerous wins to safeguard our elections and deliver for the people. I promised to make Indiana elections safe and secure, I promised to ban foreign money from influencing our elections, I promised to enforce voter ID requirements at the polls and I promised to prioritize mail-in ballot security. I kept my word and did them all. Under my leadership, Indiana is Ranked in the TOP 10 Nationally for election integrity. PROMISES MADE. PROMISES KEPT.

Lastly, I’m a naturalized American citizen, I worked for this state and honorably served in the U.S. military while going through the LEGAL immigration process. I played by the rules. I earned the support of the 2022 Republican convention. With your help, I won a landslide victory in the 2022 general election and we will do the same this year in November. I ask for your vote at the Republican convention to continue our mission of making Indiana a state where election integrity is front and center, where our voter rolls are clean and updated, where voter ID is enforced and where we set the standard for safe and secure elections.

Your friend and Secretary of State,

Diego

PAID FOR BY DIEGO FOR INDIANA

Given a second public opportunity in a single day — this one a direct pitch to the delegates who will decide his political future on June 20 — Morales volunteered his own citizenship status and pointedly did not address the citizenship status of the deputy chief of staff his office paid $160,000 a year. If Kupce were a citizen, that sentence writes itself. He did not write it. In either statement. On either platform. And he cannot — because Kupce’s own Indiana driver’s license identifies her as a non-citizen.

He calls Kupce “fully lawfully work-authorized under state law.” Which is the same careful phrase his office used in the morning. Which is not the phrase delegates, voters, and the senators who pulled their endorsements are actually waiting to hear.

Worth noting what no one has said, in twelve days of opportunity, two statements, and one direct-to-delegate campaign text: that Elina Kupce is a citizen of the United States.