Abstract

Local election officials (“LEOs”) face enormous pressure. They must administer elections when a wide swath of the American public has grown mistrustful of their work; they increasingly face ominous personal attacks and threats; they cope with chronic underfunding of elections; and they must navigate frequent changes in the law governing elections. Lawyers provide a critical avenue of support for local election officials. They provide guidance on how to implement legislative mandates and judicial orders; they anticipate and prevent disputes from arising; and they represent election officials when they or their offices are sued—a more common occurrence today than ever. Although lawyers are crucial to ensuring election officials (and thus elections) can function, legal support for election officials is seldom discussed. Do election officials have adequate access to competent legal counsel? Are lawyers guiding and representing local election officials knowledgeable about how elections work and the laws that govern them? How does the increasingly tricky political terrain complicate LEO access to legal support? This Essay aims to start this conversation and spur study of how lawyers support local election officials in their work. The premise of this Essay is that competent LEO legal support is critical to ensuring reliable, free, and fair elections.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Summer 2024

Publication Information

81 Washington & Lee Law Review 1017-1046 (2024)

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