Only two of the four candidates for Indiana secretary of state have been invited to a televised debate next week hosted by FOX59/CBS4 in Indianapolis.
The stations said Friday that Republican Max Engling and Democrat Beau Bayh qualified, while Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard and Libertarian Lauri Shillings did not meet the participation standards set by the stations' parent company, Nexstar. Those standards include reaching at least 10% support in nonpartisan polling.
A Free Press Indiana poll released Friday put Bayh at 43% and Engling at 35%, with Shillings at 6%, Ballard at 5% and 11% undecided.
The debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday and is set to be broadcast on several Indiana stations. All four candidates previously took part together in an Oct. 7 debate sponsored by the Indiana Debate Commission and in an August debate put on by the Indy Chamber.
Ballard's campaign objected to his exclusion. Campaign manager Nathan Gotsch said the poll was taken Oct. 8-11, just before Ballard's television commercials began airing statewide, and argued that one poll should not determine which candidates voters hear from so close to Election Day.
