Topics: Impartial Election Administration - Election Reformers Network

Back to Normal Isn’t Good Enough for US Democracy after the 2022 Midterms

December 14, 2022Kevin Johnson

The midterm elections have raised hopes that democracy-distortion fever is breaking at last. Prominent swing state candidates who ran on election lies lost because of it. Local officials trying to block results they didn't like were easily brought to heel. Warnings from pundits about an underground right-wing takeover of local election infrastructure proved wildly exaggerated. In short, a...

Voters Want Impartial Election Administration—And Tuesday’s Results Confirm It

November 14, 2022Kevin Johnson

This op-ed by ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson originally appeared in TPM. With attention focused on the battle for control of Congress, some of the signs went under the radar. But last week’s results offered evidence for an encouraging takeaway: that voters understand the threat posed by our party-driven system of election management in today’s hyper-partisan…

Election Reformers Network Calls for All Secretaries of State Who Are Candidates to Recuse Themselves From Key Roles in Close Races

November 7, 2022Kevin Johnson

Statement from ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson: In Tuesday’s elections, fifteen secretaries of state (listed in the table below) who serve as their state’s most senior election administrator are themselves on the ballot in contested races, either for re-election or for governor. Although many secretaries of state manage such situations of potential conflict of interest...

Why We Need to Take the Partisanship Out of Certifying Elections

October 27, 2022Kevin Johnson

This op-ed by ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson originally appeared in GOVERNING. It may be hard to remember now, but Jan. 6, 2021, wasn’t the first time the 2020 presidential election nearly went off the rails. Several swing states had already seen organized efforts to seriously challenge results, nowhere more dangerously than in Michigan, where party…

To defeat election denialism, we need partisans out of election management

October 17, 2022Kevin Johnson

This op-ed by ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson originally appeared in The Fulcrum. The threat could hardly be clearer: Some candidates for secretary of state deny the verified outcome of the 2020 election, raising serious questions about whether they’ll reject results – and the rule of law – if they gain office. In response, political opponents…

PRESS RELEASE: New ERN Poll Finds Voters Want Changes to Ensure Elections Are Run Impartially

October 11, 2022Zachary Roth

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 New ERN Poll Finds Voters Want Changes to Ensure Elections Are Run Impartially Polling shows strong support for rules requiring that chief election officials are qualified and free from close party ties. More than four in five voters, including large majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents, say it’s…

ERN Applauds House Passage of Electoral Count Act Reform & Urges Senate Action

September 22, 2022Zachary Roth

Election Reformers Network (ERN) cheered the passage in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday of a bipartisan bill to prevent subversion of the results of a presidential election, and urged the U.S. Senate to pass their version promptly. The Presidential Election Reform Act would fix dangerous flaws and vague language in the 1887 law,…

Declaring Who Wins Elections Is Not A Job For Partisans

September 6, 2022Kevin Johnson

This post by By Kevin Johnson originally appeared on TalkingPointsMemo. If the stars align, Congress could soon pass a much-needed overhaul of the Electoral Count Act (ECA), the 19th-century law governing presidential electoral-vote counting, whose ambiguities helped spawn chaos on January 6th. In pushing to reform the ECA, a bipartisan group of senators is acknowledging a dangerous...

Michigan’s partisan gerrymander is gone. Next: partisan canvassing boards

June 28, 2022Kevin Johnson

This op-ed by ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson and The People’s Katie Fahey originally appeared in Bridge Michigan. In 2018, Michiganders of all sides won one of the greatest battles for basic fairness in the state’s history. Michigan “slayed the dragon” of partisan gerrymandering, taking election district drawing out of the self-dealing hands of legislators…

Politicians certifying election results is risky and unnecessary

June 21, 2022Kevin Johnson

This post by By Kevin Johnson originally appeared on The Fulcrum. In recent months, we’ve gotten a crash course in the ways that our election systems are now dangerously vulnerable to partisan interference and disorder. Numerous candidates for secretary of state deny the results of the 2020 election, including several who are, or likely will…

To Trust Election Results, We Must Trust The People Administering Them

June 1, 2022Heather Balas

This post by By ERN Board Member Amber McReynolds and ERN VP of Programs Heather Balas originally appeared on TPM. Amid growing concern about the prospects for a free and fair election in 2024, last week brought a rare piece of good news: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who famously stared down President Donald…

New models can keep partisans out of election administration

February 1, 2022Kevin Johnson

This post by ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson originally appeared on The Fulcrum. As recent reporting has emphasized, elections in 2022 for secretary of state will feature well-funded “stop the steal” candidates who appear ready to undermine elections to help their side win. Similar threats are emerging at the local level, where most of the…