Ballard submits final signatures for secretary of state effort, says he has over 74k

Greg Ballard capped off his effort to join the Indiana secretary of state ballot Tuesday, submitting the last of over 74,000 signatures he says the independent campaign collected.

“This is more like a movement than a candidacy,” Ballard told reporters outside the Marion County Board of Voters Registration office in Indianapolis’ City-County Building. “People are disillusioned, they’re angry with what’s going on, and they want a different choice.”

Ballard needs nearly 37,000 verified signatures from registered voters, with the extra meant to account for those who aren’t registered or are duplicates. He deployed volunteers and spent $150,000 as of mid-May on a firm to collect them. All signatures had to be turned in to county officials by noon Tuesday.

County election officials must verify signatures, and Ballard must file a petition of nomination with the state Election Division by noon on July 15. Ballard declined to say how many signatures have been verified so far. 

Hamilton County officials in May or June flagged a page of 10 signatures submitted on behalf of Ballard’s campaign as potentially forged, though the campaign distanced itself from the “rogue” volunteer who turned them in. It added the suspect signatures made up just 0.02% of the more than 35,000 submitted at the time.

A former Republican mayor of Indianapolis, Ballard intends to capture dissatisfaction with state Republicans and Democrats under his new “Lincoln Party” label. He appears set to officially join November’s secretary of state race, consisting of Democrat Beau Bayh, Republican Max Engling and Libertarian Lauri Shillings.