Ballard sues Indiana Election Commission to prod it into meeting before election

Secretary of state candidate Greg Ballard is suing the Indiana Election Commission and asking a court to order it to meet to consider four campaign finance complaints.

Ballard said the commission has not met since July and is ignoring the complaints. He wants a meeting held before Election Day on Nov. 3.

The former Republican Indianapolis mayor said in a statement that not meeting was “an abandonment of duties.”

Ballard, who is running for secretary of state under the newly formed Lincoln Party banner, told reporters Thursday morning that Republicans and Democrats “are protecting themselves rather than protecting the integrity of voting in Indiana.”

He noted that the commission has met in September over the previous five years but did not meet last month.

“What I’m suggesting to you is this system is designed so that Hoosier voters don’t have other choices besides the two major parties,” he said. “The system is designed so that nobody can challenge all of this.”

A representative of the election commission did not immediately return a call from The Indiana Lawyer seeking comment Thursday morning.

Ballard, who is representing himself in the lawsuit, said he would drop the case if the commission met. Absent that, his campaign provided previews of several documents the candidate intends to file in Marion Superior Court.

In a proposed motion for a preliminary injunction, the former mayor will ask the court to require the commission to meet later this month to consider the complaints, which focus on Republican candidate Max Engling and Democrat Beau Bayh.

Libertarian Lauri Shillings also is running for secretary of state.

Ballard said he’s not seeking a particular outcome “but we are asking the Commission to do its job by holding a meeting on any complaints that have been filed to date and take action well before Election Day so voters have all the information they deserve.”

According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle, the four complaints allege the following:

• That Engling accepted an illegal $60,000 donation from Hoosier Leadership for America Inc., exceeding the $5,000 cap. Engling later returned the entire donation.
• That Engling’s campaign finance filings didn’t identify who paid for a hospitality suite the night before the GOP state convention.
• That Bayh attended several hosted events where he was a featured speaker but reported no in-kind donations from the host groups.
• That Bayh attended several events sponsored by county Democratic parties but reported no in-kind donations from those groups.