INDIANAPOLIS — Independent Secretary of State Candidate Greg Ballard today formally proposed a plan to remove partisan control over Indiana's Recount Commission, the body responsible for resolving disputed election results.
Ballard first raised the proposal during this week's Indy Chamber HobNob debate. Today's announcement lays out the plan in full.
"The Indiana Recount Commission should be about the voters, not the parties," Ballard said. "Right now, partisans pick the people who decide the outcome of our closest elections. That's wrong."
Ballard's plan would expand Indiana's recount commission from three members to five, with every member required to be a retired judge.
Under the proposal:
- The Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court would compile a list of ten eligible retired judges willing to serve, excluding anyone related to or living with a current elected official.
- Each political party with official ballot status in Indiana — currently three — would select one judge from that list, in order of their finish in the most recent Secretary of State’s race, to ensure no two parties select the same judge.
- The Chief Justice would appoint the remaining seats from the unselected names on the list.
"Under this structure, no single party would appoint a majority of the commission," Ballard said. "That's the whole point."
Ballard said retired judges are uniquely suited to the role because, unlike sitting judges or party officials, they are free from the pressure to satisfy a political party to get elected or reelected.
The proposal comes as Indiana's three-member Recount Commission remains at the center of a months-long, increasingly bitter dispute over a State Senate primary decided by three votes. The Deery-Copenhaver recount has included arguments over which ballots to count and whether voters could be subpoenaed and questioned under oath about why they voted the way they did.
The case is now before the Indiana Supreme Court, with oral arguments set for next month.
"Look at what's happening in the Deery-Copenhaver race right now," Ballard said. "Three votes separate two candidates, and it's been a mess from start to finish. Hoosiers deserve a recount process they can trust — one that isn't partisan in any way."
Ballard’s proposal would require action by the Indiana General Assembly because the Recount Commission is established by state law. The former Indianapolis mayor said he would push for the legislature to adopt the plan and has offered his recommended selection process as a starting framework for lawmakers to build upon.