At the Fulcrum:

Most senior U.S. election officials come to their posts through explicitly partisan processes, such as partisan elections. The vast majority of these officials rise above the flaws in the positions they hold and render impartial service, but this ethos is under threat. Widespread falsehoods about the 2020 elections have propelled candidates for election posts who are committed to redressing the perceived wrongs. This context argues for long overdue reform of state election leadership and incremental, targeted reform at the local level.

The country’s history of reform can help. In other fields, the U.S. has developed successful models for appointing impartial individuals to politically important positions. Judicial nominating commissions, which help appoint state judges, and independent redistricting commissions, which determine congressional and legislative district boundaries, can guide new approaches to how election officials are selected and operate. (A report released today by Election Reformers Network and The Carter Center discusses these commissions and the lessons they offer for elections.)

States could create election official nominating commissions to guide selection of secretaries of state or chief election officers, along with state election board members and prominent local election positions. These commissions could be structured to represent a range of stakeholders, including election officials, civic organizations, the Democratic and Republican parties, third parties, and independents. Commissions could short-list qualified independent professionals for these positions, and the governor, or a local authority, could pick from the list.

This approach would replace elections as the means to select these officials, a change that some will oppose. But there are good reasons why no other democracy in the world elects its election officials, and why so many states have dropped elections for judges. To illustrate the latter point, a 2001 survey found that nearly half of state judges agreed that campaign contributions impact judicial decisions. Decision-making by election officials can likewise be tainted by the partisan affiliation and fundraising those officials need to win an election.