INDIANAPOLIS — Greg Ballard's independent campaign for secretary of state is entering a critical new phase.
He's got just a few weeks left to turn in a certain number of signatures to county clerks in order to get his name on the ballot in November.
The former Republican Indianapolis mayor said he's gathered more than 35,000 signatures from voters across the state, which puts him in striking distance of the 37,000 signatures required to get on the November ballot.
Even though the requirement is 37,000 signatures, the campaign says it will be collecting more than that, knowing some will be rejected during the verification process.
While Ballard's work to get on the ballot continues, Democrats have already chosen Beau Bayh to be their nominee.
This weekend, Republicans will choose between four candidates at their convention in Fort Wayne.
They are incumbent Secretary of State Diego Morales, Knox County Clerk David Shelton, conservative activist Jamie Reitenour and Max Engling a former senior aide to U.S. Sen. Jim Banks.
In the past month, several top Republicans have thrown their support behind Engling, with some asking Morales to withdraw, concerned about his chances of winning in November.
Morales has declined to step aside.
Ballard said no matter who Republicans choose, he'll move forward the same way.
"We're not overly concerned with who comes out of that convention. To be frank with you, I think it would be odd, at this point in time, if the incumbent comes out of that, but we're not concerned about that," said Ballard.
"We're concerned we think we have a bigger picture in mind, which is to give voters more choices, really having a third party come into this that has some credibility that will put up candidates that you can be proud of that will serve the people, that's the bigger goal of what we're trying to do here," he added.
Ballard said as he's collected signatures, he's heard from people on both sides of the aisle about his decision to run as an Independent.
"The main sentiment and it's been overwhelming, is 'Thank you for doing this.' I hear it everywhere, every day that I walk out the door, that's what I hear. 'Thank you for doing this,'" Ballard said. "It's unbelievable how many people say that to me, which tells me that people are really disillusioned and angry sometimes about what's been happening with the two political parties, but I hear all the time, 'Thank you for doing this. We needed another voice.'"
The deadline to have all the signatures in to county clerks is June 30.
This report originally appeared on WTHR here.