Ballard wants SoS barred from endorsements. Engling, Bayh, and Shillings all say no.

Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard at the 2015 500 Festival Parade. Photo: Sarah Stierch / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard at the 2015 500 Festival Parade. Photo: Sarah Stierch / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Judges in Indiana cannot endorse candidates. Greg Ballard wants the same leash on the office that runs the state’s elections.

The former Indianapolis mayor, now the Lincoln Party nominee for secretary of state, stood at the Statehouse on Wednesday and asked the General Assembly to write into statute what he says should already be obvious: once sworn in, Indiana’s chief elections officer should be barred from endorsing, fundraising for, or donating to other candidates or parties; from holding party leadership posts; from headlining partisan events; and from knowingly putting out false or misleading statements about an election. Own reelection would still be allowed — along with registering with a party, voting, and attending events as a private citizen, just not as the featured draw.

“I’m calling on the Indiana General Assembly to pass legislation to bar the Secretary of State, who is Indiana’s chief elections officer, from endorsing, fundraising for, or donating to other candidates once in office,” Ballard said, according to WFYI’s Benjamin Thorp. In a campaign release quoted by FOX59, he added that it is “hard to believe this isn’t already against the law,” and framed the ask as an Indiana Election Integrity Act with complaints to the State Ethics Commission — the same kind of wall the judicial code puts around judges.

None of his three November rivals signed on.

What the ban would cover — and what it wouldn’t

Under the proposal as reported by IndyStar, WFYI, FOX59, and the Capital Chronicle, a sitting secretary of state could still run for reelection, keep a party registration, cast a ballot, and attend events without taking the microphone as honoree or headliner. Staff and office resources could not be used for political work. Ballard also pressed rivals to make a matching personal pledge. On that score, he is alone so far.

Three no’s — and a hole they keep naming

Republican nominee Max Engling’s campaign did not accept the pledge. Communications director Chloe Anagnos told IndyStar the campaign has “already committed to not using the official office for campaign functions because that is already the law in Indiana,” then accused Ballard of flip-flopping on Lincoln Party candidate selection. “We’re confused by Mr. Ballard’s stances continuing to flip-flop,” a spokesperson told WFYI. Anagnos told the Capital Chronicle he had recently said he would be “directly part of the political process of selecting candidates for the Lincoln Party” before pivoting to the out-of-politics line.

Democrat Beau Bayh’s campaign manager, Jack Tormoehlen, rejected a personal-politics ban while drawing a sharper line on administration. “We should take politics out of the administration of our elections,” Tormoehlen told WFYI and IndyStar. “We should not take away the right for one person to participate in the political process in the same way every other Hoosier can.” He also highlighted Bayh’s separate pledge not to steer secretary of state contracts to campaign donors.

Libertarian Lauri Shillings refused the pledge outright. She told WFYI a party-donation ban could even conflict with the Libertarian Party’s $25 membership dues, and she offered a different standard: “I’ll recuse myself from any election matter involving a candidate I’ve endorsed or raised money for.” She and the Engling camp both pressed how Ballard funds and recruits for the Lincoln Party while claiming the officeholder will stay “out of politics forever.” Shillings called that “a hole” in the pledge. Ballard, reached by WFYI, called claims he would select Lincoln Party candidates “false” and said the law could exclude personal activities such as party dues. “Sadly, it appears I am the only one willing to do so,” he said.

Why the referee’s jersey matters

Indiana has never treated the secretary of state’s office as a nonpartisan clerks’ desk — every holder since statehood ran on a party ticket, IndyStar notes. Todd Rokita, secretary of state from 2003 to 2010, spent nearly $1.9 million in taxpayer money on mass communications with his name or likeness — spending that later helped lawmakers curb the practice. Current Republican Diego Morales went to Dallas this summer as an Indiana RNC midterm-convention delegate. Ballard used Wednesday’s presser to call that out of bounds for the elections referee.

His own Lincoln Party project sits in the middle of the fight. Counties are already mailing ballots, and the party’s straight-ticket emblem — sunglasses Abe Lincoln — will appear for voters who choose that path, with Ballard as its only statewide candidate this cycle (Capital Chronicle / Indianapolis Recorder). He says if elected he will not headline Lincoln Party gatherings, though he still plans to attend. Opponents say building a ballot-access vehicle while promising monastic neutrality is the contradiction the Oct. 7 debate should test.

Six days to a four-way microphone

WFYI will host the Indiana Debate Commission’s secretary of state debate at 7 p.m. on October 7. FOX59/CBS4 has a separate televised debate October 22. Those are the next hard dates when all four share a room and the “out of politics” ask can be put to them without a press release in between.

For now the statute does not exist, the personal pledge has one signature, and the office still sits where party politics and ballot administration meet. The General Assembly would have to write the ban. The other three have already said they will not wear it voluntarily.

Reporting: WFYI, Oct. 1, 2026; IndyStar, Sept. 30 / updated Oct. 1, 2026; FOX59, Sept. 30, 2026; Indiana Capital Chronicle / Inside INdiana Business, Oct. 1, 2026.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.