Secretaries of State Are Still Serving as Honorary Co-Chairs of Presidential Campaigns

The latest controversy surrounds Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a co-chair of Romney’s campaign.

Since Florida 2000, when Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris served as Bush co-chair (and Bob Butterworth, the Florida Attorney General who issued conflicting opinions on the meaning of Florida election law during Bush v. Gore while serving as a Gore co-chair), no state has moved to make its Chief Election Officer position nonpartisan.  And local election officials also are often chosen on a partisan basis.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the allegiance of the Chief Election Officer of each state was to the integrity of the election process and not to a particular political party or candidate?

It is truly a scandal, and one which I explore in depth in The Voting Wars.

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