The race for Indiana Secretary of State has taken on new importance this year — the first chance Hoosiers will have to select a new chief elections officer since former President Donald Trump undertook a well-documented effort to overturn the result of the 2020 elections.
Republicans usually cruise to an easy victory in the race but the Nov. 8 election could be different. Republican Diego Morales faces off against Democrat Destiny Wells and Libertarian Jeff Maurer.
Morales, who’s been plagued by controversies regarding his work performance, campaign spending, military service, policy reversals and sexual assault allegations, has denied the accusations against him — consistently emphasizing a “grassroots” strategy of meeting with everyday voters in all 92 counties.
Wells, meanwhile, has seized on the barrage of bad press on Morales to cast herself as the would-be safeguard of Hoosier democracy, seeking to stabilize the foundations of the state’s election system and rebuild voter confidence – though with few specifics.
Maurer has put forth in that vacuum bold plans to add safeguards to voting through resource-intensive undertakings that election experts and opponents have knocked as unrealistic.
Election priorities
The 2020 elections unleashed widespread furor regarding the election results and skepticism of the nation’s election systems — and in Indiana, it’s put a typically done-deal race for a down-ballot position front-and-center.
That’s because the office oversees Indiana’s elections.
Morales: Morales told the Capital Chronicle he would “protect and expand” photo identification laws, including for mail-in voting, should he be elected. About three-dozen states have photo I.D. laws, but Indiana is regarded as the concept’s birthplace; it was the first to enact such a law in 2005, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld.
Morales also highlighted plans to rebuff federal control over elections, referring to wide-ranging national legislation that would touch voter access, election security, campaign finance and ethics. For example, the “For the People Act of 2021” would require that states establish independent redistricting commissions.
“As Secretary of State, I will work with Indiana’s congressional delegation to make sure legislation such as this never passes,” Morales said in emailed responses. “I will work to educate federal elected officials on the importance of Hoosiers having control of Indiana elections and the importance of every state having sole control over its own elections.”
Morales previously emphasized support for a transition away from electronic-only voting machines toward options that generate paper trails.
He also previously said he wanted to slash the state’s 28-day early voting period in half, and called the 2020 election a “scam,” according to the Associated Press. But he walked back those positions after a June convention victory.
Wells: While campaigning, Wells has walked a careful line between emphasizing her confidence in Indiana’s systems — accusing Maurer of perpetuating Trump-esque election fear-mongering in a GOP-less debate this month — and warning of the consequences should Morales take office.
“To me, with my national security background … I see the Secretary of State’s office in each state as the center of gravity for where this far-right fringe element can subvert the will of the people,” said Wells, a military intelligence officer now in the U.S. Army Reserve. “… The biggest mission I can serve is safeguarding democracy in my own state.”
Wells, asked about her signature policy ideas, said she’d take stock of where Indiana and its 92 counties are, shore up weaknesses and make improvements upon that stabilized base.
“It’s — at the minimum — upholding the status quo,” Wells said. “But then also doing that voter education, that civic engagement, restoring voter confidence with evidence, information about how the process works, and then moving the needle from there.”
“You can’t just jump in and give this pie in the sky agenda of everything you want to do with elections when you have a shaky foundation,” Wells added. “And because of the last few years, we have a very shaky foundation when it does come to voter confidence.”
That, for Wells, also includes “fact-finding” within the office itself: Why does Indiana still use electronic-only voting machines, despite the technology’s security weaknesses, instead of some form of paper ballots? What are the office’s budgetary constraints? Is there a lack of support from the General Assembly?
Wells has previously said she’d advocate for policies that ease access to the polls, like longer polling hours, plus “less restrictive” voter registration and mail-in voting laws.
Wells’ vision also includes an emphasis on employee morale, drawing from her experiences in large organizations like the military and the Indiana Office of the Attorney General. Wells described a yearlong stint as an attorney at the OAG and watching a “mass exodus” ensue when “bad leaders” took the reins.
“I feel like I have to win this office to keep it out of the hands of another bad leader,” Wells said, referring to Morales.
Maurer: Maurer, meanwhile, has centered his campaign on printing “receipts” for voters and conducting pre-certification audits for all 92 Hoosier counties to boost voter trust in elections.
Libertarian candidate Jeff Maurer at a debate in October. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz /Indiana Capital Chronicle)
In the first, every vote would have what Maurer called a “triangulated” receipt: the original vote for immediate tabulation, a printed government copy to check against in audits and recounts, and a printed take-home copy for voters. It would have just a unique ballot number and security code, rather than any other identifiers.
“It’s a pretty piece of paper the voter takes home with him or herself and can go home, go online and look up the vote — track it just like a package,” Maurer said. “And the idea there, is that for the first time, we the people, we the voters can have can hold government accountable in a way that has never been done before.”
It’s unclear how voters would ensure that all three copies match.
Maurer also wants to expand the number of audits Indiana conducts on its elections. The state conducted 25 on primary races in May, and plans to do 10 more on races in November.
Maurer wants to audit races in all 92 counties, and before they’re certified — when election officials certify that the results are complete and accurate. Indiana would conduct several times more of the resource-intensive audits than usual, and in less time.
He also highlighted what he views as a conflict of interest: that Indiana’s Voting System Technical Oversight Program, run under the Secretary of State’s office in collaboration with Ball State University, is auditing elections also overseen by the office.
A separate, existing agency could conduct audits instead, Maurer said, but his preferred alternative is an independent audit conducted by an outside agency, reminiscent of what large Wall Street companies do quarterly.
Such a contract would come under heavy scrutiny. Maurer said that the company would “ideally” be based out-of-state to minimize the appearance of impropriety and would disclose any potential conflicts of interest.
Asked how he reconciled his policy ideas with the traditional Libertarian ideal of small government, Maurer called his proposals “an investment in constraining government.”
“This is really an investment in the will of the people, in the Democratic Republic that we have,” he added. “And so, if there’s ever gonna be a dollar invested in us, this is it.”
Are the numbers adding up?
No Democrat has been Secretary of State in more than 30 years, since Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett won as an incumbent in 1990. Democrat Gov. Evan Bayh appointed him to the role the year prior.
Democrats have seen opportunity in this year’s race, as the controversies involving Morales have unspooled and multiplied.
But much of a campaign comes down to money.
Wells slightly outraised Morales between July 1 and September 30, earning about $328,000 to the Republican’s $311,000, in campaign finance reports filed last week. She also spent nearly $30,000 less in that period, and still reported ending with significantly less cash on hand: about $299,000 to Morales’ $482,000.
That’s because Morales began with more than $400,000, while Wells started with an empty campaign account.
Political analysts have noted Wells will need an influx of cash in the final days to keep up.
Wells herself emphasized the “grassroots” nature of her campaign via donations, in contrast to Morales, who has often used that term to describe his campaign.
“We have thousands of donors, individual small-dollar donors who support our campaign … and in this quarter, we have even more because it’s ramped up,” Wells said. “That’s how you really see if somebody is grassroots.”
Wells’ third-quarter campaign finance filing of small-dollar donations ran to 376 pages, while the Morales campaign’s totaled 58 pages.
Morales snapped back, saying in an emailed comment that he was “grateful for all the generous donations that have come into my campaign.”
“And unlike my opponent, apparently, I do not characterize any of my donors as ‘small,'” he added. “I, on the other hand, characterize my donors as extremely generous. I am grateful for ALL of them.”
And Morales can count in his camp fellow Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who said last week he didn’t have concerns about Morales.
“Like I always do, I will be voting for the Republican team,” he added.