Partisan Election Officials Are ‘Inherently Unfair’ But Probably Here To Stay

Then-Georgia Secretary of State, and Republican nominee for governor, Brian Kemp attends an election night event in Athens, Georgia. As secretary of state, Kemp was charged with overseeing the election logistics for the election he was running in.

Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images

When Ohio State elections law professor Daniel Tokaji tells colleagues from other parts of the world about how the United States picks election officials, he says they’re stunned.

“And not in the good way,” says Tokaji.

That’s because in a large portion of the U.S., elections are supervised by an official who is openly aligned with a political party. It’s a system of election administration that’s routinely come under scrutiny over the past two decades, and did again in this year’s midterms especially in Georgia, Florida and Kansas.