Rogue election officials face scrutiny amid fears of sabotage in key races

County clerks and canvassing boards in battleground counties hold the first and last hands on ballots in House and Senate races that could decide control of Congress. In a system where county and municipal offices typically handle the core work of running elections, those low-profile officials can affect ballot access, vote counting, certification procedures and public confidence in the final tally.

Local autonomy shapes U.S. election administration, and the Election Assistance Commission treats certification as a formal, multi-step process rather than a political afterthought. That structure gives local officials real leverage over the pace and mechanics of an election, even as state and federal rules set the boundaries.

The risk sharpened after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Brennan Center found an active effort to recruit rogue election officials to sabotage elections across the country, and a 2024 Brennan Center survey found most local election officials had taken new precautions to secure the 2024 election. A House Oversight Committee report issued on August 11, 2022 found that lies about election administration can increase threats to election administrators and create pathways for efforts to cast doubt on legitimate results.

A July 14, 2022 study in the American Political Science Review analyzed nearly 5,900 clerk elections and found evidence relevant to how partisan local election administration can be. Roughly 40% of the local election official workforce turned over between 2020 and 2024, a 2024 Bipartisan Policy Center report found.

Even where election deniers lost many statewide races for secretary of state and other key offices in 2022, the battle shifted downward to county and municipal positions. Local officials cannot block certification, but they can fuel disinformation. States United Democracy Center’s March 7, 2024 report, States of Denial, tracked election deniers in key state legislatures.