On Wednesday, July 22, the State of Indiana notified the Greg Ballard campaign that he is officially certified to be on the November ballot in the Indiana Secretary of State race. The former Indianapolis Mayor is running as an independent under the Lincoln Party banner.
“It’s good to officially be on the ballot. It took a lot of hard work from people across Indiana to reach this historic moment,” Ballard said in a press release. “We are pleasantly surprised at how quickly the certification happened, and I want to thank the Indiana Election Division staff for their time and effort in counting all our signatures. It is truly special to be part of this movement. See you on the trail.”
You can find the letter here from the State certifying 40,361 petition signatures to enable Ballard to be on November’s ballot, which matches none of the other signature counts reported by the Ballard campaign to this newspaper.
You can read about the various pre-certification signature counts his campaign reported at this link, and about his report of “41,299 verified signatures” at this link. We include this signature count history because the primary function of the Secretary of State is election oversight.
Though I’ve never lived in Indianapolis during (Former) Mayor Ballard’s time in office, I’ve generally had a very favorable opinion of his administration and of him personally… and might be predisposed to vote for him. (Hint, hint, to his campaign: tell voters what you accomplished in office… and importantly, why you choose not to seek the Republican nomination for SOS.)
The challenge for Republican-oriented voters is whether voting for Mayor Ballard is indirectly putting a 3rd generation (legacy?) Democrat in a stepping-stone office by dividing the Republican vote? (The idea possibly that Republican have a current SOS office holder that perceptively was a poor choice makes one less confident in the Republican’s present replacement choice… sorry, but true.) (Hint, hint: The Republican nominee needs to tell voters why and how he walks 10 feet tall and can leap tall buildings.)
Lastly, The Democrat nominee for SOS needs to tell voters (honestly, I hope) whether he will get a job in Indiana and live permanently in Indiana if he should lose this race? Said differently, reporters need to ask if he is a carpet-bagger? (That’s a fair question. I was born in Michigan, but have lived all but my military service years in Indiana including my university years – am I Hoosier or Woverine? The nominee was born in Indiana, but lived all of his life in Virginia and colleged on the East Coast- is he Virginian or Hoosier?) (Hint, hint: The nominee needs to buy an Indiana house and get an otherwise permanent Indiana job – fast.)