INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said Wednesday during a downtown debate he would overhaul the Indiana Recount Commission if elected secretary of state.Ballard spoke during a secretary of state debate at the Indy Chamber's HobNob legislative forum. Voters this November will choose from Republican Max Engling, a longtime Capitol Hill staffer; Democrat Beau Bayh, the son of former Gov. and Sen. Evan Bayh; Libertarian Lauri Shillings, a small business owner; and Ballard, who is running as an independent under the Lincoln Party label. Current Secretary of State Diego Morales lost the Republican nomination to Engling at the party convention in June.State law requires the recount commission be made up of one Republican, one Democrat, and the secretary of state. Ballard said the commission should instead have five retired judges.It should be five retired judges who are free from politics, Ballard said. If we do all of those things, then I think people will feel a lot more secure that, when they put that name down, their vote will be secure.The candidates also discussed the Indiana Recount Commission's decision Aug. 10 to throw out the results of a recount between Sen. Spencer Deery and Paula Copenhaver. Deery was originally the winner before the commission rejected eight ballots cast for him because they lacked a clerks signature or the initials of both election judges.Shillings and Bayh both said the commission should have followed the voter's choice, which state law allows. Bayh noted the ballots had technical errors but showed no signs of fraud.If the intent of the voter is clear, which it seems to be in this case, and there's been no evidence of tampering or fraud, the votes ought to be counted and the will of the people ought to be fully represented in the election results, Bayh said.Shillings said better training could prevent such errors from happening. She argued that providing functional tools and clear materials would help county clerks do their jobs right.We make sure that the host of materials that are available to our county clerks are actually functional, that they can use them, and that they understand them, Shillings said. And that's what I would like to help do, is to ensure that they have the tools and training that they need to execute their jobs correctly.Engling was the only candidate who agreed with the commission's decision. He said the commission had to follow the law to keep voters' trust in the process.When you look at what happened with the recount commission, they followed the law, they looked at every ballot, they said, does this match the code? We have the code for a reason, Engling said. I would be interested to know if anybody else on the state here would prefer that they don't follow the law.The debate also focused on how to improve trust in the office following controversies involving Morales' hiring of relatives and his purchase of a luxury SUV with state funds. Bayh, Shillings, and Ballard all said they would launch a full review of the office immediately. Engling said he has already addressed the issue by winning the nomination and promising not to employ relatives if elected.Ballard faced criticism for his plan to spend $2.5 million on voter guides. Bayh said that amount is about 25% of the Election Division's total budget and doubted the guides would be useful. Shillings said the real problem is a lack of candidate variety, not a lack of information. Engling suggested other ways to boost turnout, such as recruiting high school seniors as poll workers. Ballard countered that the state could fund the guides by requiring political parties to pay for their own primaries.Moderators also asked if the candidates would support expanding mail-in voting if a disaster, such as a flood or pandemic, happened close to Election Day. All four said they would consider it on a case-by-case basis.You would have to look at each individual thing and say what is the impact? Is it getting to the ballot box? Is it across the entire state? Engling said.Shillings suggested mobile voting stations as another option during emergencies. Bayh and Ballard said they would support such measures as long as they kept the process secure and followed state law.It's absolutely fine to expand the parameters of being able to vote as long as we have a consistency consistent with security and making sure that the voter intent is very very clear, Ballard said.Security is paramount. It has to happen in the way that it's supposed to happen under state law, Bayh said.Early voting begins Oct. 6. Election Day is Nov. 3. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5. ...read more read less