Executive Summary
Elections in the United States are conducted by dedicated election officials committed to ensuring fairness, accuracy, accessibility, and security. For most election officials, ethical standards are based on personal ethical convictions, commitment to abide by state ethics laws, and dedication to follow their oath of office. While no unified set of ethical principles exists in the field, some state associations and training programs address ethics, and the National Association of Election Officials (the Election Center) maintains a set of standards for its members.
Articulating ethical principles for election officials offers numerous advantages.
- It provides a shared vocabulary to communicate the moral basis for election conduct to voters.
- It aids in training new officials by reinforcing the broader purpose of election administration as a profession.
- It helps internalize values that can guide officials when facing external pressures or unclear election laws.
Election officials already adhere to various ethical principles and codes of conduct, such as state ethics laws and oaths of office. However, none specifically address the unique circumstances of election administration. Consequently, there is a collective obligation for election officials to define and adopt ethical principles and codes tailored to their profession.
After reviewing existing principles in public service and election administration, we recommend seven core principles for adoption by the profession:
- Adhere to the law. Election officials have a duty to administer the law as written and interpreted by the relevant authorities.
- Protect and defend the integrity of the election process. Election officials have a duty to ensure the integrity of elections and to safeguard against unfounded attacks on the integrity of the election process.
- Promote transparency in the conduct of elections. Election officials have a duty to make election administration transparent to the public.
- Treat all participants in the election process impartially. Election officials have an obligation to treat all participants in the electoral process impartially, including voters, candidates, citizens, and political committees.
- Demonstrate personal integrity. Election officials have a duty to conduct themselves honestly and forthrightly in all interactions with superiors, peers, candidates, campaign officials, and the general public.
- Practice the highest level of ethics and stewardship. Election officials have a duty to expend public funds carefully and foster respect among employees and volunteers.
- Advance professional excellence. Election officials have a duty to stay informed about election laws and new developments in election management.
These principles should be accompanied by a corresponding set of standards of conduct that reflect realistic scenarios encountered by election officials at different levels of election administration. For instance, to implement the principle of adherence to the law, a county election director might be directed to seek legal counsel when the law is ambiguous, while a polling place officer might be directed to seek guidance from the local election office when the official is uncertain how to handle a situation at the polls. To implement the principle of practicing the highest level of ethics and stewardship, procedures could be developed in the local election office to encourage an open expression of views and “whistleblower” protections, whereas for temporary election workers, it would be important to spell out clearly how they should respond if they encountered a breach of ethical principles or law while voting was being conducted.
Proposals to enhance the ethical integrity of election administration in the United States have included ending the common practice of selecting senior election officials through elections, especially partisan ones. However, the deeply ingrained adversarial system, often tied to partisanship, is unlikely to be changed soon. Moreover, the same ethical standards apply to all election officials, regardless of how they are selected. Laws and practices, therefore, need to be established that allow election officials to provide notice of potential conflicts of interest and to recuse themselves from decisions that pose a conflict or appearance of conflict. Counterintuitively, conflicts of interest may be most evident in local jurisdictions, especially smaller ones.
Given the decentralized nature of U.S. election administration, state associations of local officials are best positioned to articulate and educate their members on ethical principles. Notably, the Election Center has integrated ethical principles into its certification program.
While ethical principles should guide the passage of state election law, their content should not be legislatively mandated. Enforcement of ethical principles is a serious matter, and organizations adopting such principles should carefully consider enforcement actions, ranging from informal correction to expulsion, always keeping due process rights in mind.
