Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Experts say nonpartisan observers are key to restoring faith in elections

election observers

An observer takes notes as while watching Gwinnett County, Ga., election workers process absentee and provisional ballots in November 2020.

Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

To say that election administration has become, in many states and cities, a partisan affair would be an understatement: Legislation, audits and political appointments have become new tools in increasingly bitter battles over how elections are managed. One way to restore trust in elections would be to increase the role of nonpartisan observers, according to a new report.

Each state makes its own rules governing who may observe elections, and at what stage. But in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic raged across the country, the rules were modified in many places to ensure the health of all involved. Those restrictions led to more partisan fighting over the ballot-counting process, even though security officials said the election “was the most secure in American history” and numerous audits have confirmed outcomes.

To ensure faith in, and integrity of, future elections, researchers with the Alliance for Securing Democracy and Carter Center urge officials to enhance the role of nonpartisan observers.


Many states allow partisan election observers, who watch for irregularities that could harm their candidates, whereas nonpartisan election observers watch for wrongdoing by anyone involved, regardless of party and can help head off problems in real time. But the report’s authors — Avery Davis-Roberts, associate director of the Democracy Program at The Carter Center, and David Levine, an elections integrity fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy — are not looking to replace partisan observers. Instead, they want to supplement that work.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

“Having observers from political parties watching the election to ensure that it doesn’t disadvantage their preferred candidate or political party is important,” they said in response to questions from The Fulcrum. “However, we also need enough nonpartisan observers focused on ensuring compliance with election administration rules and procedures. Internationally we see that the combination of partisan and nonpartisan observation together can be a powerful force for promoting confidence in election processes.”

More states allow partisan observers than permit nonpartisan observers. But the researchers make balancing those numbers their first recommendation.

“Recent U.S. elections, especially the 2020 presidential election, have demonstrated that partisan observation is no longer sufficient to engender the trust that elections have been conducted fairly,” they wrote in the report. They point to the spread of mis- and disinformation and the enactment of new laws making it easier for people to interfere with vote-counting.

They also cite research showing that the presence of partisan and nonpartisan observers will increase faith in the integrity of elections.

In addition to calling for nonpartisan observers in every state, Levine and Davis-Roberts want all observers to have access to as much of the election process as possible, without compromising the results. This means getting them in during the pre-election process (which includes equipment testing), carrying on through in-person voting and the processing of mail-in ballots, and post-election work (like vote-counting).

“State and local election officials have repeatedly demonstrated that they know how to ensure that any voting location can be made both secure and observable,” the report states. “Prohibiting such observation needlessly raises suspicions and provides an additional way for bad actors to try to undermine public trust in the electoral process.”

The third recommendation calls for in-person observers rather than the remote access that was provided in many places during the 2020 election. Doing so avoids the spread of false allegations of vote-tampering, like what occurred in Georgia during the last election.

While the initial recommendations focused on improving access for nonpartisan observers, the final proposal calls for some limits and demands good conduct among the watchdogs.

“While it is essential that election observers are allowed sufficient access to watch and accurately understand what is occurring, it also is important for there to be clear guidelines for their access and activities, including reasonable limitations,” the report states.

Such limits could include restricted movement by observers to avoid crowding of election officials and voters. And the observers should undergo training to stay on top of election laws, to conduct themselves properly and to know how to report their findings.

As the nation witnessed with the recent partisan fighting over federal election laws, there is no simple way to implement these changes. Instead it needs to be handled on a state-by-state basis.

“In some states, local jurisdictions can unilaterally decide to allow nonpartisan observers. In other states, allowing nonpartisan observers will require state intervention, either from state legislators or administrators,” Davis-Roberts and Levine said.

But even that may be overstating what’s needed. Until the aftermath of the 2020 presidential contest, many election administration roles were unofficially exempted from the partisanship that otherwise has gripped U.S. elections. But now state and local positions have been targeted for partisan advantage, and it will be incumbent on officials to make sure nonpartisan observers remain just that — nonpartisan.

Davis-Roberts and Levine believe that can be accomplished “by emphasizing the nonpartisan nature of this initiative, and highlighting that champions of fair election processes come from across the political spectrum.”

“Nonpartisan observation has helped ensure the administration of free and fair elections in countries across the world. Adopting more of it in the United States could help deter actual fraud and intimidation, increase trust in our elections, and help ensure peaceful transfers of power,” they said.

Read More

The Fragile Ceasefire in Gaza

A view of destruction as Palestinians, who returned to the city following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, struggle to survive among ruins of destroyed buildings during cold weather in Jabalia, Gaza on January 23, 2025.

Getty Images / Anadolu

The Fragile Ceasefire in Gaza

Ceasefire agreements are like modern constitutions. They are fragile, loaded with idealistic promises, and too easily ignored. Both are also crucial to the realization of long-term regional peace. Indeed, ceasefires prevent the violence that is frequently the fuel for instability, while constitutions provide the structure and the guardrails that are equally vital to regional harmony.

More than ever, we need both right now in the Middle East.

Keep ReadingShow less
Money Makes the World Go Round Roundtable

The Committee on House Administration meets on the 15th anniversary of the SCOTUS decision on Citizens United v. FEC.

Medill News Service / Samanta Habashy

Money Makes the World Go Round Roundtable

WASHINGTON – On the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and one day after President Trump’s inauguration, House Democrats made one thing certain: money determines politics, not the other way around.

“One of the terrible things about Citizens United is people feel that they're powerless, that they have no hope,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Ma.).

Keep ReadingShow less
Top-Two Primaries Under the Microscope

The United States Supreme Court.

Getty Images / Rudy Sulgan

Top-Two Primaries Under the Microscope

Fourteen years ago, after the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the popular blanket primary system, Californians voted to replace the deeply unpopular closed primary that replaced it with a top-two system. Since then, Democratic Party insiders, Republican Party insiders, minor political parties, and many national reform and good government groups, have tried (and failed) to deep-six the system because the public overwhelmingly supports it (over 60% every year it’s polled).

Now, three minor political parties, who opposed the reform from the start and have unsuccessfully sued previously, are once again trying to overturn it. The Peace and Freedom Party, the Green Party, and the Libertarian Party have teamed up to file a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Their brief repeats the same argument that the courts have previously rejected—that the top-two system discriminates against parties and deprives voters of choice by not guaranteeing every party a place on the November ballot.

Keep ReadingShow less
Independents as peacemakers

Group of people waving small American flags at sunset.

Getty Images//Simpleimages

Independents as peacemakers

In the years ahead, independents, as candidates and as citizens, should emerge as peacemakers. Even with a new administration in Washington, independents must work on a long-term strategy for themselves and for the country.

The peacemaker model stands in stark contrast to what might be called the marriage counselor model. Independent voters, on the marriage counselor model, could elect independent candidates for office or convince elected politicians to become independents in order to secure the leverage needed to force the parties to compromise with each other. On this model, independents, say six in the Senate, would be like marriage counselors because their chief function would be to put pressure on both parties to make deals, especially when it comes to major policy bills that require 60 votes in the Senate.

Keep ReadingShow less