Since its founding in 2017, Election Reformers Network has been a leader in developing policies to strengthen U.S. democracy and reform systems which reduce trust or create conflicts of interest in the election ecosystem. Below are the reports, briefs, and resources which are the culmination of the original research that informs our program portfolio.
In our time of increasingly dangerous partisan clashes, we need to prioritize election governance reforms that ensure those in charge are visibly neutral, impartial, and above the fray. These changes can be a huge step toward restoring sanity to our democracy.
Election officials need support navigating the ethical dilemmas that arise in the course of their duties. This training provides hands-on, scenario-based guidance to help the election workforce meet the challenges arising in our highly polarized political environment.
Citizen-initiated ballot measures have emerged as a critical political battlefield in the United States. This groundbreaking report identifies the abuses by legislative and executive powers to the ballot initiative process and details remedies for partisan meddling.
Although most secretaries of state perform exemplary public service, party allegiances built into these positions make the United States a global outlier in election administration and create risks that need to be addressed.
The Carter Center joins with ERN to release this joint report on how proven models for impartiality in redistricting and the judicial system can be used to ensure that our election leaders are independent, professional, and accountable.
The election certification process was thrown into the partisan fray in 2020 and 2022. ERN has conducted twin studies aimed at comparing the certification process domestically and abroad so that we can glean best practices and keep this important process neutral.
States have many different models for running elections. This short guide (with map) breaks down where elections are run by an individual (such as a Secretary of State), a board or commission, or a combination of the two.
Watchdogs and redistricting experts filed an amicus brief to guide courts in assessing political gerrymandering, using the standard authored by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan. New Mexico's current court challenge provided the case study.
As election administration comes under increasing scrutiny from both sides of the political spectrum, an increasing number of researchers, scholars, lawyers, organizations, writers, and editorial boards have come out in favor of the concept of "impartial election administration."
Voter enthusiasm, recent bipartisanship in Congress, and an unclear political future create an opportunity to reform our systems that should not be passed by.
This groundbreaking Ropes & Gray legal landscape study of U.S states found that few, if any, have adequate legal provisions to constrain partisan endorsements, fundraising or related actions by election officials.
Here in America we don’t have the same range of parties as in the U.K. — in part because our Congress is undersized, with only one-seventh the number of representatives per citizen. But we do have political groupings that have trouble gaining representation in proportion to their share of the population.
This report compares constitutional amendment legislation in five states aimed at blocking partisan gerrymandering and changing how redistricting is done. The states include Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah.
In this hyper-partisan era, states must take steps to ensure that: a) current officials are protected from threats and intimidation; b) future election officials will act impartially; and c) voters are confident that election administrators are doing their jobs without partisan bias. This ERN policy brief addresses how, including model legislation.
ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson speaks to the Role of Social Innovation in Democracy Conference hosted by Stanford Social Innovation Review. This conference took place March 16–18, 2023.
