Greg Ballard seeks to “open the door” for independent candidates

By AIDA KARIM
news@readthereporter.com

Editor’s note: When The Reporter reached out to all candidates for Indiana Secretary of State, Greg Ballard was the only one who responded in a timely manner.

Greg Ballard says the partisan divide is putting Indiana’s future at risk. As the Lincoln Party candidate for Secretary for State, he’s looking to challenge the status quo.

Ballard shares the ballot with three other candidates this election: Republican Max Engling, Democrat Beau Bayh, and Libertarian Lauri A. Shillings.

According to Ballard, after serving as mayor of Indianapolis, he was asked to run for different positions from governor to the House and Senate, but “none of them felt right.”

About a year ago, Ballard said a man named Nathan Gotsch came to him.

Ballard said he was “looking at the toxicity, the hyperpartisanship, and the divisions in the political atmosphere right now.”

According to Ballard, Gotsch did a lot of polling and raised money for a group called Independent Indiana. The organization came to the conclusion that there are no competitive elections in November.

“The main election is now the primary because of gerrymandering. The November election is of virtually no consequence for most of Indiana,” Ballard said. “There’s one person who could win that race. It’s going to be the Republican in the red areas, and it’s going to be the Democrat in the blue areas.”

Ballard told The Reporter he thinks voters need more choices and more people available to run for office.

Lincoln Party founding

Ballard told The Reporter the foundation of the Lincoln Party is based on the principles of the nation’s founding fathers.

“We don’t want to create a litmus test for anybody,” Ballard said. “There are a lot of people who have their own opinions and don’t quite fit the binary choices. The partisanship ideology gets in the way of good government, and we want to change that.”

In order to get his name on the ballot, Ballard needed to collect 36,943 petition signatures of registered voters, or 2 percent of the votes cast for Secretary of State in 2022.

According to Ballard, the system independent candidates are obligated to follow is “purposeful and punitive,” meant to limit elections with a two-party monopoly.

Ballard’s campaign spent over $700,000 to raise signatures, hiring professional firms to support the effort. During the process, a paid employee of a firm submitted 10 fraudulent signatures in Hamilton County.

Ballard told The Reporter his campaign found out and the individual was dismissed immediately.

Ultimately, Ballard successfully collected 40,361 signatures.

Editor’s note: Ballard will now appear as the Lincoln Party candidate for Secretary of State on this year’s general election ballot. In order for potential Lincoln Party candidates to maintain automatic ballot access for the next four years, Ballard will need to get at least 2 percent of the vote on Nov. 3. Furthermore, once established, all minor parties in Indiana must attain 2 percent of the vote in the Secretary of State race in each general election in order to maintain automatic ballot access for the following four years. This also means that party (or those parties) must hold nominating conventions to select candidates.

If elected

According to Ballard, the office of Secretary of State should be independent of politics. He said the chief election officer carries a unique responsibility in the state.

“Once I’m in office, I will not endorse, I will not donate to anybody. I will not fundraise for anybody who’s running for office under my peer review,” Ballard said.

In light of the Supreme Court involvement over six disallowed votes during the May 2026 primary election of State Senator Spencer Deery, Ballard said the Recount Commission should be abolished.

“The election recount commission looks at campaign finance laws and are supposed to meet when there’s a discrepancy,” Ballard said. “However two Republican appointees and two Democratic appointees don’t want to address the issues because they don’t want to hurt whatever candidates have to come before them, so they don’t meet.”

According to Ballard, the commission’s function needs to be assigned to retired administrative law judges in order to deter the office from partisan disputes.

Ballard’s campaign developed a “Voter’s Guide” this election. The guide book contains information about individual candidates, where to vote, how to vote, how long the voting centers are open, and a sample ballot on the last page.

You can access Ballard’s Voter’s Guide online at gregballard.com/guide.

Early voting is underway and you can no longer register to vote in this election, but you can check your voting status at indianavoters.in.gov. You also find information on voting in Hamilton County at hamiltoncounty.in.gov/222/Current-Election-Information.