ERN Wins Grant to Research Election Ethics Needs

Key to ensuring impartial election governance is establishing clear and mandatory ethical standards for those who oversee our elections. With financial support from the Bipartisan Policy Center and The Elections Group through their Resiliency of the American Election Workforce program, Election Reformers Network has launched a research program to study existing ethics training and support needs for election officials in five target states: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Virginia, and Washington. Drawing on documentary evidence and interviews with election officials and trainers, our research will identify best practices for addressing ethical challenges and develop recommendations for an expanded ethics training curriculum.

Importantly, the need for ethics reform does not detract from the fact that most American election officials discharge the duties of their office impartially. Nevertheless, the intersection of election governance and politics creates opportunities for ethical dilemmas to arise. This is especially true for officials who are chosen via partisan processes—such as elections or political appointment—as these officials may experience pressure to engage in political activity while in office, such as endorsing candidates or fundraising for campaigns. This type of activity may seem unavoidable to officials who are also prominent party figures.

However, partisan activity by election officials reduces the public’s trust in the integrity of elections, especially given our polarized political environment. A 2022 survey conducted by ERN found that majorities of voters believe election officials should not be permitted to engage in partisan campaign activities, such as endorsing candidates, fundraising, or overseeing their own elections.

Ethics reform stands to strengthen the election workforce by providing clearer guidelines, stronger training, and more resources to support them in the course of their vital work.