March 12, 2026
Why Germany Lets a Statistician Run Its Elections
Electoral integrity does not depend on finding perfectly neutral individuals. It depends on designing institutions that make manipulation difficult and transparency unavoidable.
Electoral integrity does not depend on finding perfectly neutral individuals. It depends on designing institutions that make manipulation difficult and transparency unavoidable.
Utah's SB 194 mandates conflict of interest avoidance for election chief, neutrality for county clerks, to improve transparency and public confidence
ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson was featured in ElectionLine to discuss legislation in Utah that would strengthen the guardrails to ensure election official neutrality.
This week, ERN’s Executive Director Kevin Johnson joined Derek Monson, Executive Director of the Sutherland Institute, to support first-in-the-nation legislation in Utah that would establish clear ethical guardrails for county clerks and the chief election officer.
Strengthening election governance in a high-stakes election year
As 2026 dawns, another year of all-consuming politics has begun in America. To reduce polarization and ensure fairness for all, we need to fix the rules of democracy.
Election Reformers Network’s Board Chair reflects on South Africa's 1994 election ending apartheid, and what it teaches us about American democracy today.
In 2026, dozens of secretaries of state across the country — including Jocelyn Benson in Michigan — will be on the ballot while overseeing the very elections they administer. That fact alone should not trigger federal oversight. As we outline in our latest commentary, what matters more is transparency and clear evaluation of conflicts of interest — not knee-jerk federal intervention.
Nonpartisan election administration remains an unfinished project