GOVERNING: Shouldn’t Officials Who Oversee Their Own Elections Be Able to Recuse Themselves?

This op-ed originally appeared in GOVERNING.

Imagine a judge learning that the trial she’s just been assigned involves criminal charges against her husband’s company or a lawsuit against her child. It’s clear what would happen: The judge would recognize that she faces a conflict of interest and recuse herself from the case. State and federal laws, codes of conduct, and judicial training provide substantial guidance on recusal, and court systems are ready to provide needed replacements.

But what about a secretary of state overseeing his own race for governor, or a county clerk running for the state legislature? Shouldn’t they also recuse from decisions that could impact their own races? The answer is … no one really knows. Few states have laws for such circumstances, and none has a roster of qualified replacements to take over a recusing official’s responsibilities. Polls show that most voters support restrictions on such conflicts of interest. Election officials say they want to do the right thing but lack guidelines explaining what the right thing is.

‍A new report by our organization, the Election Reformers Network, aims to meet that need. The report provides a framework for decision-making about when and how election officials who are candidates should recuse. This framework can enable voluntary recusal by election officials and help state legislators consider new laws.