How do major party presidential nominees get on Indiana's general election ballot?

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Brandon Smith

Article origination IPB News

Under Indiana law, the chairs of the major parties must certify the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates, as chosen by the national party convention delegates, to the Indiana Election Division.
*Courtesy of the Indiana Election Division*

Since President Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race — and with Vice President Kamala Harris likely to replace him as the nominee — there’s been a lot of misinformation about how she’ll get on the ballot.

Indiana law governs how major party presidential nominees get on Indiana’s general election ballot.

It doesn’t matter that Harris wasn’t on Indiana’s primary election ballot for president. Primary results really only matter to a presidential candidate for the purposes of winning delegates for their national party conventions.

With Biden withdrawing from the race, Indiana’s Democratic delegates are unbound and free to vote for whomever they choose — and they’ve all declared for Harris.

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Indiana law said getting major party presidential candidates on the general election ballot simply requires the state party chair to certify to the election division the names of the nominees for president and vice president, as chosen by the national party convention delegates.

The party chair this year must do so by Sept. 10.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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