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Indiana’s top election official, Secretary of State Diego Morales, included footage of multiple official visits in a campaign advertisement, blending government resources and property with a partisan campaign in a manner that Indianapolis election officials believe could violate state law.
The Marion County Election Board, a three-member bipartisan panel that includes Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell, voted unanimously to authorize staff to investigate whether the actions violate Indiana election laws.
The nearly five-minute ad was released on May 1 to kick off Morales’ 2026 reelection run. It includes footage of Morales on official visits to the Marion County Election Services Center—which is not open to the public—and the City-County Building in 2024.
“He’s the chief elections officer of the state,” Sweeney Bell said, “of course we’re going to allow him access [to the services center] to see this great way that we conduct elections.” But the clips also include public employees and volunteers who she said “didn’t sign up to be in a video for somebody’s campaign.”
Indiana Code 3-14-1-17 forbids government employees from using government resources to campaign. It also prohibits government employees from taking part in campaign activities during their work hours and on government property.
Marion County Director of Elections Patrick Becker will lead the investigation and report back to the board with his findings. Brad Boswell, an attorney with Faegre Drinker and outside counsel for the election board, said that the investigation will likely involves determining whether Indiana government employees used working hours on the video, as well as whether the cameras used to shoot it are property of the state.
Sweeney Bell first notified the Secretary of State’s Office of her concern in a May 7 letter. That letter asked that Morales stop sharing the video by May 12. In a reply to Sweeney Bell dated May 8, a representative of the Secretary of State’s Office did not directly address the advertisement.
“I’d like to let you know politely, but firmly, that neither I nor the Office of the Secretary of State are involved with candidates or candidate committees,” Jerold A. Bonnet, the office’s general counsel, wrote in an email forwarded to IBJ. “The office does not serve as a conduit for communications with candidates or committees.”
Sweeney Bell said the same letter was shared with the Morales campaign, but campaign representatives have not responded.
Lindsey Eaton, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office, told IBJ in an emailed statement that the videos were from “Election Day recap videos” posted to the office’s official social media platforms and therefore are subject to public use.
The Morales campaign did not immediately respond to IBJ’s request for comment.
Boswell, the attorney, said the Marion County Election Board could refer any findings to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office or the Indiana Attorney General, but the board would first provide notice to the accused party and allow them to speak at a public meeting.
Although Sweeney Bell is a Democrat and Morales is a Republican, she denied that the situation was politically motivated. Instead, she said that using government resources for campaign purposes “is clearly wrong.”
Sweeney Bell repeatedly told reporters that she hopes the potential violation was a minor oversight.
“Maybe there is something that he and his staff can look into and remedy,” she said.
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