INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Republicans still plan to hold their state convention at the convention center on June 20. But they’ve drafted contingency plans in case they have to move the event online.

Indiana Democrats announced last week they’re switching their June 13 state convention to a mail-and-online gathering because of the coronavirus pandemic. State Republican Chairman Kyle Hupfer says if it’s not safe for hundreds of delegates to gather, they’ll follow suit. But he says the party has until at least mid-May to make that decision, and possibly a couple of weeks beyond that. By that time, he says, there’ll be more information on how fast the pandemic is spreading.

Hupfer says he’d prefer to hold the convention in person if possible, because of the momentum generated by gathering the party’s most loyal activists in one place to launch the fall campaign.

The convention will select Republican nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney general. Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch is expected to be unopposed, but embattled Attorney General Curtis Hill faces challenges from former state revenue commissioner Adam Krupp and Zionsville attorney John Westercamp. Other candidates have until May 21 to file.

Candidates must get a majority of the votes to win, but Hupfer says it won’t be that hard to carry out a multiple-ballot election by mail. Delegates would rank their preferences on the ballot, and if no one gets a first-ballot majority, the last-place candidate’s votes would automatically go to the voters’ second choice.

Making those fallback decisions in advance would eliminate the between-ballots lobbying of delegates on the convention floor, but while Hupfer says it would alter the dynamic of the convention, the effect might not that significant. He says the advent of better vote-counting machines has shortened the amount of time between ballots.

But the change would delay the selection of a nominee. Instead of voting on the 20th, the party’s contingency plan calls for ballots to be returned by July 9, and counted the next day.