Press Release: New Ethics Guidelines Help Officials Overseeing Their Own Election
ERN releases “Designing Guidelines for Recusal by Election Officials”
[Bethesda, MD July 23, 2024] – Election Reformers Network (ERN) today released the first publication to tackle a key challenge facing state election systems: what to do when the people in charge of elections are running for office.
Every cycle, hundreds of local officials and several secretaries of state oversee elections in which they are candidates. Polls show that most voters support restrictions for such conflicts of interest, but states lack the necessary rules and support mechanisms. ERN’s report outlines steps election officials and other actors in each state can take to address this need.
“No one has given election officials the rules and replacement options to make recusal manageable,” said ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson, a report co-author, “or the tools to assess when it’s needed.”
“Surveys show election officials are highly trusted across America,” said co-author Heather Balas, ERN VP. “That trust is well deserved, and we shouldn’t let conflicts of interest undermine it.”
The ERN report emphasizes training on the topic of recusal and legal guidance for officials. As these supports are put in place, states should require all election officials who are candidates to consider recusal, and to explain their plans to voters early in their campaigns. Specific state guidelines should be shaped by election officials with support from state ethics commissions and state departments of elections.
The report calls on secretaries of state or lieutenant governors in Alaska, California, Missouri, Montana, Vermont, Washington state, and West Virginia--who all face potential conflicts of interest this election year--to assess if recusal from certain election processes is warranted and feasible, and praises the Lieutenant Governor of Utah for having done so.
In the long run, ERN argues, states can reduce this area of concern by appointing rather than electing their election officials, as is the norm in other democracies. Recent research indicates that appointed election officials significantly outperform their elected counterparts.
About ERN
Election Reformers Network is a nonprofit public policy organization focused on modernizing election structures to guard against polarization. Additional information is available at ElectionReformers.org.
Media contact
Kim Nickols
press@electionreformers.org
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