Secretary of state candidate Ballard calls for increased Indiana poll worker training

The greatest risk to secure voting in Indiana is a lack of sufficient training for county election workers, secretary of state candidate Greg Ballard said Wednesday in proposing a standardized statewide training program.

The former Republican Indianapolis mayor, who is running under the Lincoln Party banner, argued that the frequent GOP rhetoric on election security overlooked the challenges faced by county clerk offices and poll workers.

Ballard released a campaign proposal calling for the secretary of state’s office, which oversees statewide election policy, to begin a hands-on clerk training workshop and develop standardized procedures for all 92 counties to follow.

Many county clerks now turn to those from other counties to figure out election process problems, Ballard said.

“This is what election security actually looks like, making sure the people running an election know how to run it the same way in all 92 counties,” Ballard said during a Statehouse news conference. “Not slogans, not talking points, but ensuring that the people conducting our elections have the training, the support that they need and that they deserve.”

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Republican candidate Max Engling frequently cites issues such as ensuring only U.S. citizens are allowed to vote as a top priority if he wins the November election.

Engling said he has been meeting with clerks and other county officials about what election assistance they need from the state.

“Greg Ballard is proposing yet another top-down, one-size-fits-all program, without identifying how it will be funded or showing how he will work with the officials who actually administer the elections,” Engling’s campaign said in a statement. “Our clerks deserve a partner who wants to serve alongside them — not someone who wants to run to a microphone every time they come up with an idea.”

Democratic candidate Beau Bayh said in a statement that he supported “any effort to address the unmet needs of our hardworking county clerks.”

“If I’m elected, I look forward to collaborating with the bipartisan Election Division and the Association of County Clerks to make sure we address training needs in a way that’s both efficient and secure,” Bayh said.

Ballard said he believed the cost of his proposal could likely be largely paid for through the secretary of state office’s current budget. He maintained, however, that the state has never funded a certification program for poll workers that was first called for in a 2005 law.

The lack of sufficient training can lead to problems such as the potential mishandling of ballots that led to a legal fight in a state Senate Republican primary race with a three-vote margin, Ballard said.

The Indiana Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Thursday in that ballot dispute between Sen. Spencer Deery of West Lafayette and challenger Paula Copenhaver.

Ballard blamed that dispute on “procedural election mistakes that never should have happened. That’s what it looks like if this goes wrong.”