Who Runs Elections

  • State Chief Election Official: Each state has a chief election official who has an oversight or advisory role of elections. You can find out who the chief election official is in your state here: https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/state-profiles-elections

  • Election Administrators: Election administrators are the public servants who oversee and carry out the overall election process. They ensure compliance with laws, coordinate logistics, hire poll workers and oversee the counting of ballots.

  • Poll workers: Poll workers are trained as part of a large, temporary workforce to staff polling places during early voting and on Election Day. Although most poll workers are paid, most are not employed full time by a board of elections, county clerk’s office or similar government body.

The United States has a highly decentralized election administration system. Because the majority of elections are run at a state and local level, and are mostly governed by state law, the voting experience can be very different depending on where a voter lives. Every state has teams of people working together at every step of the voting process.

These public servants put partisan preferences aside and work together to ensure elections run smoothly and that every vote is secure and counted accurately.

Hear from the people who make our elections work.