Federal monitors headed to Indiana polls.

Eyes on one close congressional district and the Election Commission won't have to meet.

From the television studios of WFYI Public Media.

It's Indiana Week review for the week ending October 30th, 2026.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI.

In association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by ParrRichey.

Around 1000 monitors from the U.S.

Department of Justice will be heading to polling places across the country, including Marion and Lake County in Indiana.

Caroline Beck has more details on what to expect.

Election day the Marion County Election Board said Wednesday that it expects 12 monitors at various polling places on Election Day.

Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell says the monitors won't be allowed inside polling places and are there to observe compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and language assistance laws.

Voters may see monitors at the polls, but they are not law enforcement officers.

Federal law prohibits armed officers from entering vote centers or federal employees from interfering with elections.

The DOJ routinely sends monitors to election locations, but leaders at the agency have said this year's initiative is the “largest monitoring effort in DOJ history.” So should Hoosiers be worried ahead of Election Day?

It's the first question for Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Ann Delaney Republican Mike O'Brien.

Jon Schwantes, host of Indiana lawmakers.

And Niki Kelly, editor in chief at Indiana Capital Chronicle.

I'm Jill Sheridan, managing editor at WFYI.

So Ann there is a lot of concern about interference and election integrity.

Are Indiana elections strong?

Of course.

Look, this is just a show on the part, on the part of the Trump administration.

Of the thousand, 24 are coming to Indiana, and they're going to go in pairs of two.

They're going to rotate around.

What do we have here?

150 voting places in Marion County.

Come on.

All of these is an attempt at intimidation.

And it's a very poor attempt at that.

But the Kate Sweeney Bell has this under control.

Every single polling place will have monitors from the Democrats and monitors from the Republicans.

And it is completely aboveboard.

It's not a case where you're going to have ballots with hanging chads or any of those problems that we've seen in the past.

And so it's it's not only, it's not only safe and you can be certain that the count will be accurate, but the good news is that as of yesterday, we had already advanced voted more people than voted in the 2022 election by 9000 votes.

And we're getting perilously close to 60% of the 2024 election early vote to date.

So the good news is people have no reason to be concerned.

Kate has made certain that the poll workers are instructed.

These people are not allowed in the polls.

it doesn't matter whether they wear a badge or not.

They have to have an election credential issued, and they have to be a resident of Marion County.

And they're not allowed to come in carrying a weapon.

So those kinds of intimidations, are going to be gone.

And if anybody gets hassled by them going in or going out, they should pick up the phone and call and somebody will respond.

Well, here in Marion County, my guess, she mentions the clerk has laid out for a poll workers and for people what to expect.

any monitors should be outside.

But is the damage done?

Some for some people.

Possibly because of the fear and the threat, or the Department of Justice has been sending these and sending the sending blockers, inspectors into the interstates for since the 60s.

so this is some like, new ground that we're breaking.

I'm up two minds.

One, I do agree with Ann and anyone who has administered an election like I think we both have or been an inspector.

Republicans clearly have an edge in Indiana on on running that process because because we have only six we have the secretary of state, right?

We have the Secretary of state, and we've got 86, county clerks, you know, and so this idea that the it's counterintuitive.

So that's of one mind that, yes, I've been through this process.

I've been both an inspector.

I've been in the warehouse, Marion County.

I've been in the basement of the county courthouse for ten elections, watching this play itself and watching the county play itself out.

and I'm a little offended every time that comes up, frankly, because we control it as Republicans.

And so this idea that the narrative nationally is going to be that if we if we Republicans don't win, that it was fraudulent.

Drives me crazy because when we have won it's fine.

When we haven't won it's stolen.

and you've got to have trust in that, in that, in that system.

It is this is we have a durable democracy, but it's pretty fragile.

If you don't believe that the process of electing people to represent you was valid.

and we've got to get away from this, this narrative that or this preemption of, you know, what is happening here.

So I understand why this is an unprecedented situation.

I understand why it fits into the narrative of the day, because Republicans on the national level have pushed that there's massive amounts of voter fraud.

There's just not and there's never been any proof.

And we got to get away from this.

Let's go run the election.

Run your best race.

And when you lose, be gracious, win or lose, maybe even go to the inaugural.

You walk away.

I mean it, it's something that we've heard all across the board from secretary of state, candidates from the governor this week.

You know, Indiana has this under control, and voters should be aware of that and and proud of that.

Oh, I think that's exactly right.

I mean, Mike was very eloquent on the subject in defending our our processes here in the state.

Anyone who's worked in a poll in Indiana knows just how meticulous the process is, and how there are checks and balances.

And two people have to, you know, you're going to the bathroom.

Well, then I need to essentially go to the Republican judge and every Democratic judge they drive together to deliver a poll.

I mean, this is absentee ballots.

They go.

Yeah.

I mean, this is it's not some willy nilly system.

And it's and we've never despite a lot of effort to try to find misconduct and misdeeds and miscount, it hasn't happened and it won't this year.

So people can be very secure.

But it's it is sad that the this the sort of question mark has to be raised by the administration nationally, because it does erode.

you talk about the fragility of, of democracy.

I mean, that goes the whole thing unwinds pretty quickly.

And it does make me wonder if this is the biggest, much ballyhooed, deployment of Justice Department inspectors and officials ever.

And you still cry foul, which I think will be a given somewhere in the country, if not Indiana.

Gee, does that mean your own Justice Department very much touted, failed in its efforts to deliver?

I thought you could promise that this was going to be so carefully monitored.

It's the biggest deployment ever.

You're kind of then you backed yourself into a corner, you're looking for consistency, and you're like, I gave up consistency a long time ago, but, I think we can.

Hoosiers, can count on their votes being tallied the right way.

Let's leave it there.

I mean, the DOJ has said, though, that this is the largest amount of monitors that will be sent.

And they're coming to two Indiana counties that are Democrat, Democratic in the past have pointed out.

yeah.

I mean, it's definitely a more aggressive approach than they've taken in the past.

I think most voters, I mean, obviously it's only Lake and Marion and even within then they might visit 6 to 8.

You know, polling locations during the day, like the vast majority of voters are not going to see these people nor interact with them.

Just go about your day, cast your ballot and move on.

If they do approach you, they're doing kind of exit interviews.

So know if someone approaches you, you know you don't have to talk to them.

Or you can say, yeah, it was great.

No problems.

You know.

Yep.

but, you know, totally up to you as a voter, you know, Justice Department, I would just say also has suggested they're looking at things such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and compliance as that I want to see the complaints that are leveled at the end of this.

I don't think anybody's going to be out measuring the ramp, height, or whether the, you know, the steps are the right, sort of pitch.

so I think that's a bit just disingenuous, to say the least.

Well, it's now time for viewer feedback.

Every week we pose an unscientific online poll question.

This week's question, are you concerned about interference ahead of Election Day?

Vote yes or no.

The last question posed to viewers do you want a data center in your community?

13% saying yes, 87% say no.

If you would like to take part in the poll, go to WFYI.org/IWIR and look for the poll.

Well, the race to represent Indiana's fifth Congressional District is reaching a crescendo.

Incumbent Republican U.S.

Representative Victoria Spartz is facing Democratic challenger J.D.

Ford.

As Zak Cassel reports, the race is turning competitive in a historically red district.

A new, nonpartisan poll from Quantus Insights finds Victoria Spartz leads at 45%, but J.D.

Ford trails close behind at 41.8% within the polls margin of sampling error.

The race is contentious.

Both have lobbed attacks.

Ford fired off an ad about Spartzs finances.

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz says she's a good neighbor, but she's been picking our pockets.

Spartz responded.

They're striking back with lies, trying to buy this election for the radical puppet J.D.

Ford.

NPR reports.

Republicans plan to spend over $700,000 and Democrats $470,000 in the final days of the race.

The Cook Political Report changed the district from solid to likely Republican, saying Spartzs attack ads signal the seat is no longer safe.

So, Mike, is Spartz still safe in this district?

I think it's still a Republican district, I think so, yes, I think she still is safe.

It's an 18 to 22 point, at least in the last census since real redistricting, not fake redistricting like we tried last year.

so it's real redistricting.

Christina Hale got really close in 2020. she was four points.

but since then, that that seat has consistently been 18, 22 points.

in the last, in the last two cycles.

What's going to be back to redistricting?

But it's going to be very interesting to me is when we look at the outcome of some of these races, because J.D.

Ford's a good candidate, like he's he's funded and run an organized campaign, and he's not just a name on a ballot.

and I like him a lot and, you know, respect him as a person.

it'll be very interesting to see see to see the outcome in some of these congressional races to see, had we redistricted a year ago because we knew now what the we knew then what the new maps would look like.

What would have happened?

Would we have lost the fifth district?

You know, would we have lost, you know, the third district or the or the ninth district that was going to snake from Jeffersonville to Speedway, Indiana.

You know, that's what I'm going to watch, I think this race is I think I think she's safe just because I think the margins is just too high.

I think the the hill to climb on, on straight ticket voting is too high, just like it's too high in Andre Carson's district for Republicans, you know, it's just you just can't overcome some of the systemic advantages that these, you know, Democrat and Republican incumbents have.

but the the back end analysis of what would mid-cycle redistricting have done to our congressional delegation is going to be something I'm looking at.

Well, I mean, this seat was redistricted, though, as he mentioned, for try to keep her safe and not so close.

Not safe.

She's not safe.

J.D.

's run a very, very good race, very effective race, talking about what she's used her congressional seat to do and that's to enrich her family.

So, you know, you get those kinds of corruption issues and they're they're I mean, they're they're they're they're with Max Engling taking that $60,000 corporate contribution and not giving it back after he was caught.

Yes.

Well, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

So it would have been okay if nobody caught him.

So I don't think point is able to refute.

The point is that that, she's not safe.

And the other thing to remember is in the House congressional, the House, of Representatives for Indiana seats, the ones that are in contention are largely in that fifth district, and those candidates are working extremely hard.

So I don't discount, J.D.

's, opportunity to turn the world on its head by winning that seat.

I mean, what do you predict, Niki?

Because they will be closer than anyone thought.

I definitely think she'll.

She'll pull it out, but I do.

And I had said in another forum earlier this week that, while I think she's going to be fine, I think if they had redistricted because they would have had to pull out a bunch of vote, a bunch of safe R votes from that to take the seven I think it would have been a complete loss, you know, for that district, and which would have been ironic if they wouldn't have, you know, and so hopefully maybe when they're considering this, you know, in January they'll think about that when we have redistricting part two.

I think you're from, the congressional can congressmen who might have something to say about that.

Praying that that doesn't happen again.

what do you think, though, Jon, with asking about congressional districts that are in or around metropolitan areas, they're not static.

Demographically.

They change.

We've seen that you talked about this district being historically red.

True.

But I also remember when Marion County was historically red.

I mean, it was a gimme.

It was like Orange County, California, like Indiana was historically blue, right?

My point being that things change.

And you do have demographic graphic changes in Hamilton County.

a new type of population, that it perhaps is not as, adamant about pulling a straight lever for Republican candidate.

I think it's going to be close.

I think, it's it's I would not be shocked if J.D.

Ford pulled off the upset.

I mean, if you look at the cook report, it still leans that way, or likely, but but it's moved away from that solid, safe district.

So I think we two should think not so safe, but.

Well, turnout, turnout, turnout as well.

And whether people the top of the ballot being the secretary of state's office.

Right.

You know and if if Beau Bayh wins by a sufficient margin does that make a difference.

That's I think neither outcome would surprise me, I guess.

Well, we'll be watching.

Also this week, the Indiana Election Commission will not have to meet to hear campaign finance complaints before Election Day.

A judge denied a request from independent candidate Greg Ballard, asking that election complaints be heard before next week.

Ben Thorp has more.

Several campaign finance complaints have been filed against Democrat Beau Bayh and Republican Max Engling.

But Indiana's election commission won't meet to hear them until late November.

Ballard sued to force the commission to meet, but a judge has denied that request.

In her decision, Judge Jennifer Harrison ruled that Ballard had not demonstrated a likelihood of success at trial and that granting his preliminary injunction could harm the integrity of the election process.

A spokesperson for Ballard said they are exploring legal options to compel the commission to meet.

Election day is November 3rd.

And Niki, what do you make of this lech last ditch effort in the secretary of state race from Ballard?

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't going to work.

he's doing what he's doing as part of his platform to point out problems with the, you know, very, Partisan Indiana election commission.

So, you know, great move for his campaign, but I don't think anyone ever thought that, you know, it's bi partisan.

It's just not third party partisan.

It's back, which was another, bipartisan.

Yeah.

Of and.

He's had a lot of them.

I mean it's it's interesting though I do wish they would have some sort of more regulations.

People file complaints constantly.

I get emails, I filed this complaint with the Election Commission.

They just ignore almost all of them.

And so that that is frustrating.

What do you think on this race.

Do you think that's on the for for trying.

This is some earned media.

He's he's the polls have suggested he's well behind.

And unless the I mean this is sort of what we could have expected I think unless somehow the borders of the state of Indiana somehow magically were to contract down to Marion County and the surrounding donut counties, where he is a known commodity.

I think it was always an uphill battle, or expectation to think that his his background and his name, it would resonate, you know, in all corners of the state that that was going to be tough.

I mean, this has been a fascinating race.

I mean, Indiana, as Secretary of state race here, what do you think?

some of the defining moments have been, Mike, as we get close to Election Day and have two very strong candidates that are polling, again, very closely to one another.

Well, I mean, the first defining moment was unseating the incumbent from the ballot coming out of the Republican convention and putting Max Max Engling in there.

you know, that was the biggest it was a course correction for, for the party that needed to happen.

you know, and he's run a he's run a great race.

This campaign finance violation with corporate contributions.

And my, you know, in my, my world, we see this happen like not infrequently.

We're like companies, especially companies out of states that don't know the rules will fire in a check to a candidate.

And it's there's not a lot of eyes on on this until it's already happened.

and so Max did the right thing.

They the campaign refunded the money, when he was caught and fixed.

It wasn't really when he was caught.

It was just when they realized it, when it was brought to their attention.

And then the other three violations are were much more gray.

They're they're like were were events being held that should have been credited as in-kind contributions to candidates, which is those pigs in a blanket can be expensive.

They can they those on a regular standard.

There is it wasn't an event for me or wasn't an event I attended.

And the election commission has to go in and make a judgment call on that, you know, and I'm assuming that they'll run through the process at some point.

But, you know, credit Greg Ballard, I mean, he's doing what you should do in a campaign.

You're trying to get earned media to throw, you know, throw some dirt on on your opponent.

It's a desperation.

It's but the things on the on the in-kind.

I looked at that and said, oh, I can't know how many times that happens.

Or you just come up with a number.

You don't look, do they have that whole bottle of wine or only half of the bottle of the can?

I do if I like, if I'm like, oh, I spent $10,000 on an event.

Yeah.

And I hang that on that guy's campaign finance report without me knowing it.

And he's like, wait a minute, I just showed up, right?

You know, that was like a well, but on the way.

To be fair, though, on the $60,000 campaign contribution, that's why you have a treasurer that looks at this, looks at that.

Usually they missed by a couple thousand.

Yeah.

Or 100 bucks here or there when you don't have all the information it's 60,000 likes.

It's a big number.

Well we have been talking about this raise for months and months now, in part because of the current secretary of State, in part because of this race becoming even more closely, between Bayh and and Max Max Engling.

Ann what do you think is going to happen?

Oh, I think Beau Bayhs going to win and the question just is how big a margin?

And I'm hoping it's at least 5 or 6 points.

Minus three.

How about minus three is okay?

I mean minus three.

It's a lose.

It's really ramped up over the last couple of weeks as far as ads go.

And oh yeah, you know Republicans have an endless supply of money trees and whatever they get.

And you saw the same thing with with Todd Huston.

He's now got another $250,000 on on TV.

He's the speaker of the House.

That is a glass house.

I don't think you want to start throwing rocks out of.

Well.

Oh, I'm I'm all I'm saying is that would be a race if anybody was asked around this table six months ago, even for money.

Six months ago, if anybody had asked whether Todd Huston was in trouble, the answer would have been no.

Right?

Just to be clear, Beau Bayh has outraised Max Engling right.

And also because he is a much more attractive candidate.

That's why there's a lot of DC money and a lot of DC connections that his dad has.

And and none of it is a $60,000 corporate contribution given illegally.

Well, Max doesn't have all of those either.

I mean, what we're looking to turn a statewide, position the for the first time in quite a long time, it will be something.

Yeah.

Democrats haven't won a statewide race since 2012. so they're really hoping this, you know, puts him over clearly Bayh has the momentum.

I just can't quite find myself ready.

You know, I looked at the last four secretary of state races.

The lowest margin was 15 percentage points.

And that's a lot to make up.

And so and Diego had problems in the last time.

You know he was not a clean that wasn't a clean race in 2022 either.

I mean remember we sat here talking.

And easily won.

But the economy has tanked since then and Republicans are blamed for it justifiably.

What do you think, Jon?

I think Bayh has the has the advantage at this point.

And part of it is I admit, we've thrown history and historical trends out the window.

But Indiana does tend to be a state.

I know this is not a governor's state, but it tends to be a two decade changing of the guard, and we're overdue.

Aside from the top of the ticket, which this will be a tight race.

Got it.

Also got a governor here who is very unpopular, which also adds to it.

But I be interesting.

Also this week, a rural Indiana school district that lawmakers decided to close is now free of that law.

Eric Weddle has more on why a judge ruled in favor of the tiny Union School Corporation.

The judge says the provision targets a single school district, which the Indiana Constitution does not allow.

Union Superintendent Galen Mast has fought the legislation since it was introduced.

There is a possibility that they could, of course, appeal on this, but we are celebrating today and I just want to thank everyone and go rockets.

In April 2025, Republican lawmakers added an amendment to a property tax bill to close the school district.

A public hearing was not held.

Union sued the state of Indiana and Governor Mike Braun, at the time the author of the amendment.

Representative J.D.

Prescott, pointed to low test scores in declining enrollment at the district, but offered few other details.

Jon, do you think the sends a message to lawmakers who kind of did this last minute as an amendment?

it wasn't the first time they did something at the last minute as an amendment that would if if they were to get that message, it would up in the way that legislation is passed, and crafted in this state, because that's hardly a typical.

Right.

I think in all likelihood, there would be an appeal.

I don't we haven't heard one way or the other, but I think, it would be, not surprising.

As I understand it, the judge why it was unconstitutional.

You know, you have, you focus that on a single.

You know, you're not supposed to have special interest legislation, but we've as a state sen ways around.

I remember when there was going to be a tax on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

You couldn't say Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so you had to say, a sporting venue that hosts 400,000 people in a first class city in the state of Indiana.

Oh, what can that be?

there are ways around.

I mean, we know and and the notion of not having hearings.

Well, it's unfortunate, right?

I think as a as a democracy, we should all stipulate there should be public input and hearings.

But as a practical matter, we've had a lot of things happen in the state, some of them much higher profile and much with sweeping results and more than this that were done without a hearing.

But, you know, I think part of this is a concern on these virtual schools.

Yes.

I mean, we're not advancing education.

We're advancing the opportunity for people to steal.

And we've got the trial going on right now with that.

And how do you monitor that?

The kids are getting the education you could have at one teacher for 200 students.

It you know, they really need they they need to be in person.

In my in my opinion to get a decent education.

Virtual is just I agree with you.

I bet a lot of people would, but that's not what the question is.

Constitutional.

You no.

But that stated the action to we couldn't involve schools.

We didn't have any Republicans say, you know, this was because of the virtual school issue.

it why do you think it's like no one would say that.

Maybe it was not because of that was a one off that never should have happened, but because of the way it happened.

but I am I do believe, and I have believed since Mitch Daniels first proposed, that we do need school district consolidation for these small school districts to cut overhead combined resources, send more money into the classroom, more money into teachers.

but it needs to be.

It can't be.

you know, piecemeal a one off and is recommended a long time before Mitch Daniels, who's there but hasn't been able to get done.

That is Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our panel has been Democrat Ann Delaney Republican.

Mike O'Brien, Jon Schwantes, host of Indiana Lawmakers.

And Niki Kelly, editor in chief at Indiana Capital Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Week in Reviews podcast and episodes at WFYI.org/IWIR or on the PBS app.

I'm Jill Sheridan, managing editor at WFYI.

Join us next time because a lot can happen.

And in Indiana week.

The views expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by ParrRichey.