Independent Secretary of State Candidate Greg Ballard is promising to produce a statewide election guide if elected.
Ballard released a prototype of his voter guide, which you can view at the bottom of this article, and said he would make the finished version available if he takes office. The race for secretary of state is crowded this year. Democrat Beau Bayh, Republican Max Engling and Libertarian Lauri Shillings join Ballard on the ballot.
Ballard, who is running under the Lincoln Party banner, showed the voter guide prototype to reporters Tuesday. It includes information on how to vote, individual voter rights and precinct-level races. The prototype guide created by Ballard’s campaign includes both a physical and digital copy.
He said he believes the guide could help promote voter turnout and decrease wait times at the polls.
“No Hoosier should ever walk into the voting booth feeling unprepared to cast their ballot, and no one should stay home because they didn't have time to learn who or what would be on that ballot,” Ballard said.
Ballard said the guide would be fully nonpartisan, but acknowledged the secretary of state’s office has become increasingly partisan in recent years. He pointed to Diego Morales' involvement in overturning a Republican primary in District 23 as evidence of that partisanship.
“That has to change. That absolutely has to change. This voter guide will not be that way,” he said. “In fact, the candidates will give us their own statements to put in here next to their picture. They can put their own statement. We'll be soliciting that from the candidates.”
According to Ballard, those statements could not be attacks against other candidates.
Only about a dozen other U.S. states have official voter guides.
Ballard said candidates in the secretary of state’s race have been focused on things unrelated to what the office can do.
“Nobody's talking about the secretary of state's office and what they're going to do in the office except me,” he said.
In a statement posted on social media, Republican Secretary of State Candidate Max Engling pushed back on Ballard’s plan. In a social media post, Engling said Ballard was making promises he couldn’t keep.
“There is no funding for his proposed voter guide, and instead of partnering with nonprofits already doing this work across the country, Ballard wants to grow state government and stick taxpayers with the bill,” the statement read.
Indiana's General Election is Tuesday, November 3.
Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org
