Sec. of State candidate Ballard calls on governor to force Election Commission to meet

In a last-ditch effort to have campaign finance complaints heard before election day, Secretary of State Candidate Greg Ballard is calling on Governor Mike Braun to intervene on his behalf.

Ballard’s lawsuit against the Indiana Election Commission, which hears complaints, was thrown out earlier this week.

Several campaign finance complaints have been filed against Democrat Beau Bayh and Republican Max Engling. But Indiana’s Election Commission isn’t scheduled to meet until the end of the month.

Ballard sued to force the commission to convene, but a judge denied that request.

Now he’s calling on the governor to compel the commission to meet.

“With the continuing erosion of trust in our voting system here in Indiana, I asked him to act on behalf of the voters,” Ballard told reporters Tuesday morning.

The letter outlines that Ballard thinks it’s unfair that the Election Commission did not meet to hear complaints, and that decision protects major party candidates.

The complaints centered on a $60,000 campaign donation to Engling that he said was quickly returned by his campaign. Other complaints include events Democrat Beau Bayh attended but did not disclose.

Republican David Shelton joined Ballard’s suit earlier this month. He has argued that even though the Engling campaign returned the donation, there still needs to be a hearing to take a look at the dark money donor, a U.S. Sen. Jim Banks-affiliated group, Hoosier Leadership for America.

In her decision denying Ballard’s request, Judge Jennifer Harrison ruled that Ballard had not demonstrated a likelihood of success at trial and that granting his preliminary injunction could harm the integrity of the election process.

Ballard said he disagrees with that assessment.

“Because they’d always met in September the past five years, and they chose, obviously, obviously for political reasons, to not meet,” he said of the commission. “That was the challenge to election integrity.”

Ballard says he hasn’t spoken to the governor. A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond to WFYI’s request for comment.

Election day is Nov. 3.

Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org