Happily, Rick and others have been stressing the need to reduce the partisanship of "who's in charge".  Unfortunately, so far that's focused on SecysofState, ignoring where so many States put all the responsibility, and where most States put so much of the responsibility: local bodies.  E.g., Sunday's NYTimes' lead editorial is stuck on the obvious: "Ohio and Florida ... have highly partisan secretaries of state who favored the [Rs] all year in their rulings.  If we want the voters to trust the umpires, we need umpires who don't take sides".  Focus on the SecysofState is a short-cut, but the only thing to say for it is that it goes in the right direction.  Of course the Secys need attention, but far more attention is needed on local officials.

    Below are excerpts from the only (I believe) pull-together survey on this.  If  anyone has similar info, pls do send.  Particularly, any info on just what authority the state-wide officials have.
    If any prof or student or other good soul is available to help in up-dating this, pls let us know.
___________________________
Working Together?    State and Local Election Coordination                              BY:                                 electionline.org  and The Constitution Project,        9/2002

Excerpts:
    ãFifty states and 50 systemsä has been used to describe election administration in the United States, but a more accurate description would be 50 states ö and hundreds of systems·

    [Re Secys of State:  21 have no election responsibilities.  Of the 29 who do, only] slightly more than 1/3 have some regulatory authority.  Most, however, only have authority to provide guidance or information on election law.
    Other states [10] delegate election authority to an independent, bipartisan election board or commission made up of politically-appointed members. In most cases the governor appoints the members with some mechanism to ensure bipartisanship....  In Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, South Dakota, and West Virginia, the secretary of state serves as chair or secretary of the independent agency.

ð 10 states have an independent appointed commission or board to oversee elections
ð 28 states house all election administration within a single agency headed by a statewide official
ð 9 states divide election responsibility among two or more agencies
ð 3 states divide the enforcement of election laws from the administration of those laws by creating an independent enforcement agency

    [State bodies'] Capacity:  Pennsylvania, the sixth most  populous state, has 10 full-time employees; New Jersey, the ninth most populous, has only five. Conversely, Delaware and Alaska, two of the least populated, have election offices of 43 and 22 employees, respectively.

ð 24 state election offices have 10 employees or fewer
ð 12 state offices have between 10 and 25 employees
ð 10 state offices have over 25 employees

    [Funds from the States:]
ð 19 states provide no funding to localities for elections
ð 22 states reimburse localities for some costs or for a percentage of costs in statewide elections.
ð 9 states pay the majority of election costs or make substantial capital expenditures for localities
ð 12 states conduct no training for local election officials
ð 17 states provide voluntary training
ð 21 states either certify local election officials or require them to undergo training
ð 6 states have no rules regarding voting systems or require only that systems meet federal standards
ð 35 states require localities to purchase machines that have been tested and approved by the state election authority
ð 9 states purchase machines for localities or provide funding for voting systems

End of excerpts.
    Last Monday, I posted a proposed agenda of steps to improve elections.  The above aims at indicating some of the matters that, it seems to me, call --hell, cry-- for attention.
                           Thanx for yr time,                     roy

--
Roy A. Schotland
Professor
Georgetown U. Law Ctr.
600 New Jersey Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
phone 202/662-9098
fax        662-9680 or -9444