State Chief Election Officials Overall:
37 Secretaries of State and three Lieutenant Governors currently serve as their state's designated Chief Election Official (CEO), overseeing the conduct of elections according to law. Administering elections, a state and local responsibility, is a multi-faceted job requiring effective communication and coordination.
CEOs actively promote resources available to assist voters, including but not limited to: voter registration information, state voting procedures and requirements, state guidelines for reporting and responding to voting issues and irregularities, and information on the reporting and certification of election results.
Visit CanIVote.org to find your election official and more information on voter registration and voting in your state.
NASS members with elections responsibilities are on the NASS Elections Committee, where they discuss policies and practices related to election administration. This includes tracking relevant Congressional activity, federal agency work and election reform proposals. The Committee also provides a forum for members to discuss strategies for facilitating voter participation and share innovative practices on voter education and outreach. They meet in-person two times a year at NASS Conferences and have regular virtual meetings.
The Role of State Chief Election Officials in Election Security:
Safeguarding the election process is central to the role of CEOs. This includes statewide election cybersecurity, physical security, and contingency planning efforts, as well as providing administrative and technical support for local election officials. All 50 states are members of the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), through which they engage in cyber threat information sharing and utilize cybersecurity services.
Every state considers its election infrastructure a target for bad actors and works continuously to protect elections from cyber and physical threats To aid in this work, NASS members have built robust security teams in their offices. They also work with private sector companies, the federal government, other state government officials, the National Guard, universities, and others to secure their state’s elections systems and prepare incident response plans.
