# State Election Administration Tree Who actually runs American elections, drawn as a structure rather than a slogan. The layer everyone fights over nationally — voter rolls, machines, mail ballots, certification — is administered by thousands of local officials working under fifty separate statutory schemes, supervised by a state official whose title, selection method, and legal leverage over those localities differ in every state. This is the layer beneath [[How a Midterm Election Is Certified]]. That map starts at the precinct count and ends at a seated member of Congress; this one shows who is standing at each of those stations, how they got there, and who can and cannot give them an order. It is also the layer beneath [[How a Redistricting Map Is Drawn and Challenged]] — a map is drawn by a legislature or a commission, but it is *implemented* by the county clerks who have to re-precinct against it. The single most useful structural fact on this page: **the office everyone names is frequently not the office that runs elections.** "Secretary of State" is the popular shorthand for American election administration, but thirty-five states elect a secretary of state and only thirty-one of those secretaries are the state's designated chief election official. North Carolina has an elected secretary of state who has nothing to do with elections. Three states have no secretary of state at all. Ten states vest the job in the staff director of a board or commission — an appointed official most voters could not name and cannot vote against. > [!note] How to read this chart > `■` = the root layer · `◆` = a structural layer · `├─` `└─` = members of a layer · `★` = the seat that answers for federal compliance · `✕` = a body or safeguard that is absent, vacant, or inoperative · `⚑` = a pressure point in the 2026 cycle · `·` separates peer items on one line · `[brackets]` = a dated note or caveat verified at build time. Everything inside the fence is plain text; linked entities appear in the prose, Notes, and See also. Counts carry the source and date that produced them, because three different authorities count these offices three different ways. ``` STATE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION TREE — who actually runs American elections │ Legend: ■ root ◆ layer ★ federally designated seat ✕ absent/vacant ⚑ 2026 pressure │ Time-slice: September 13, 2026 — 51 days before the November 3, 2026 midterm │ ■ 0. THE RULE THAT MAKES ALL OF THIS NECESSARY │ Art. I, § 4 — "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and │ Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but │ the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations." │ ├─ ✕ There is NO national election authority. No federal body administers, counts, │ │ canvasses, or certifies a congressional election anywhere in the United States. │ ├─ The federal statutes below are MANDATES ON STATES, not a federal layer above them. │ │ They tell a state to designate someone. They do not create that someone. │ └─ CRS (R45549, 2019) frames the whole division in three words: │ STATES make policy · LOCALITIES implement · LOCALITIES mostly pay. │ ├─◆ 1. THE FEDERAL FLOOR — four statutes and one agency that currently cannot vote │ │ │ ├─ NVRA (1993) ....... requires a state to designate a CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL │ │ to coordinate its duties. 52 U.S.C. § 20509 │ ├─ UOCAVA (1986) ..... requires a state to designate a SINGLE OFFICE for military and │ │ overseas voters. 52 U.S.C. § 20302(b) │ ├─ HAVA (2002) ....... requires a STATEWIDE computerized voter registration list held │ │ at the state level (§ 21083) · provisional ballots · the EAC │ ├─ VRA (1965) ........ § 2 is live and litigated. § 5 preclearance survives on paper │ │ but has no coverage formula [struck 2013, never replaced] │ └─ ★ ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION — the only federal agency devoted solely to │ election administration. Four seats, no more than two per party, three votes │ required for ANY official action. │ ✕ ZERO COMMISSIONERS. [Palmer resigned Apr 29, 2026 → Heritage Foundation; │ Hicks and Hovland fired by email Jul 9, 2026; McCormick allowed to resign │ the same day. White House cited Trump v. Slaughter.] │ ├─ STILL RUNS on career-staff delegated authority [Executive Director; then │ │ General Counsel → COO → CFO]: disburse appropriated HAVA grants · │ │ certify voting systems against EXISTING standards · maintain the national │ │ mail voter registration form · clearinghouse · hold non-voting meetings │ └─ ✕ CANNOT: adopt or amend the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines · change │ the national registration form · add conditions to HAVA grants · hear a │ decertification appeal · hire an Executive Director or General Counsel │ ⚑ Staff authority is frozen at the outer edge of the last valid Commission │ vote. Nothing can be expanded and nothing can be rolled back. │ ├─◆ 2. THE CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL — one job, four different designs │ │ [counts = CRS R45549 Table 5, sourced to EAC/NASS/NCSL. Published March 4, 2019 │ │ and never updated; the DESIGNS are stable, the roster has drifted. See Notes.] │ │ │ ├─ A. ELECTED SECRETARY OF STATE ......................................... 31 states │ │ AL AR AZ CA CO CT GA IA ID IN KS KY LA MA MI MN MO MS MT NC* ND NE NV │ │ NM OH OR RI SD VT WA WV WY [*NC's elected SoS is NOT the election official] │ │ └─ Answerable to voters directly · own political base · can diverge from the │ │ governor · and in AZ, OR and WY sits in the line of succession to governor │ ├─ B. ELECTED LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR .......................................... 2 states │ │ Alaska · Utah [neither state has a secretary of state at all] │ ├─ C. APPOINTED SECRETARY OF STATE .......................................... 7 states │ │ Governor appoints: FL · NJ · PA · TX │ │ LEGISLATURE elects: ME · NH · TN [a genuinely separate fourth design that │ │ most tallies bury inside "appointed"] │ └─ D. STAFF DIRECTOR OF A BOARD OR COMMISSION ............................. 10 states │ DE State Election Commissioner · HI Chief Election Officer · IL Exec. Dir., │ State Board of Elections · MD Administrator of Elections · NY Co-Director, │ State Board · NC Exec. Dir., State Board · OK Secretary of the State Election │ Board · SC Exec. Dir., State Election Commission · VA Commissioner of the │ Department of Elections · WI Administrator, Elections Commission │ └─ ⚑ The design question that decides everything downstream is not "elected │ or appointed" but WHO APPOINTS THE BOARD — and that is a live 2026 fight. │ │ ⚑ THE DESIGNATION IS NOT SINGULAR. HAVA defines the chief state election official as │ the one designated under NVRA — but a state may name different officials under │ different statutes. [CRS's own example: Indiana assigns NVRA coordination to the │ co-directors of the state Election Division and HAVA duties to the secretary of │ state.] A "list of chief state election officials" is therefore a list of answers │ to a question, not a list of offices. │ ├─◆ 3. WHAT THE STATE OFFICE ACTUALLY DOES — rules and records, not counting │ ├─ holds the HAVA statewide voter registration database [all states but ND, which has │ │ no voter registration at all] │ ├─ certifies and DECERTIFIES voting systems for use in the state │ ├─ writes binding rules OR non-binding guidance — this varies more than any other item │ ├─ trains local officials · publishes manuals · runs the UOCAVA single office │ ├─ receives and allocates federal HAVA money [see layer 6 — it does not spend it] │ └─ ✕ does NOT count ballots · does NOT canvass · does NOT run a polling place │ ├─◆ 4. THE LOCAL LAYER — where elections are actually conducted │ │ ⚑ THE COUNT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU COUNT. Two defensible national figures: │ │ 6,461 — jurisdictions in the EAC's 2024 EAVS public-release file │ │ >10,000 — the figure used by election-administration practitioners and repeated │ │ in July 2026 by the Institute for Responsive Government │ │ The gap is New England towns and split-duty offices. Both are given; neither is │ │ "the" number, and no federal body is required to produce one. │ │ │ ├─ COUNTY-PRIMARY .... the default. A clerk, auditor, registrar, probate judge, or │ │ county board of elections runs the whole operation. │ ├─ TOWN/MUNICIPAL .... the New England pattern — CT ME MA NH RI VT, plus WI, where │ │ municipalities hold primary responsibility. │ ├─ SPLIT-DUTY ........ ~18 states divide the job between two or more local offices │ │ [Hale/Montjoy/Brown 2015, via CRS]. AL splits it four ways: │ │ Probate Judge · Circuit Clerk · Sheriff · Board of Registrars. │ │ MI splits county clerk · county election commission · township │ │ clerk · township election commission. │ ├─ STATE-RUN ......... Delaware conducts ALL elections at the state level. │ │ Alaska conducts elections above the borough level. │ └─ SIZE ............. some jurisdictions reported under 100 registered voters in 2016; │ Los Angeles County reported 6.8 million — more than the │ registrants of each of 40 other states. Same statute, same │ deadlines, same federal forms. │ ├─◆ 5. THE PRECINCT LAYER — the temporary workforce the whole structure rests on │ ├─ poll workers · election judges · inspectors · moderators — recruited and trained │ │ by the LOCAL office, paid by the LOCAL budget, deputized for one day │ ├─ chief judge / precinct captain — opens, closes, and reconciles the precinct │ └─ partisan poll watchers and challengers — present by statute, with no authority │ ├─◆ 6. FUNCTION CROSSWALK — where each job actually sits │ │ STATE LOCAL FEDERAL │ ├─ write the rules (statute, rule, guidance) .. ██ ░ ░ │ ├─ hold the voter registration database ........ ██ ░ ✕ │ ├─ list maintenance / roll removals ............ ██ ██ ✕ │ ├─ certify voting equipment .................... ██ ░ ██ (EAC, voluntary) │ ├─ BUY the voting equipment .................... ▒ ██ ✕ │ ├─ register individual voters .................. ░ ██ ✕ │ ├─ design and print ballots .................... ░ ██ ✕ │ ├─ recruit and train poll workers .............. ▒ ██ ✕ │ ├─ select and staff polling places ............. ░ ██ ✕ │ ├─ count · canvass · report results ............ ░ ██ ✕ │ ├─ certify the county result ................... ░ ██ ✕ │ ├─ certify the STATE result .................... ██ ░ ✕ │ └─ pay for all of the above .................... ▒ ██ ▒ │ ██ = primary responsibility ▒ = partial/varies by state ░ = little or none │ ├─◆ 7. THE CROSS-STATE PLUMBING — voluntary, and therefore removable │ ├─ ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) — nonprofit, member-funded, │ │ founded 2012 by seven states. Cross-state data matching for movers, deaths and │ │ duplicate registrations; the ONLY interstate list-maintenance tool of its kind. │ │ 27 member states + the District of Columbia [ericstates.org, May 2026] │ │ ⚑ Membership is a political act now. Nine states left in 2022–23 after a │ │ pressure campaign. Virginia — a 2012 founder that quit in May 2023 — rejoined │ │ April 30, 2026 by executive order plus statute, as the 27th member state. │ ├─ NASS · NASED — the two practitioner associations. Standards by consensus only; │ │ neither can bind a state, and neither is part of any legal chain. │ └─ EI-ISAC — the election-sector threat-sharing centre, run by the Center for Internet │ Security under a CISA cooperative agreement. Served ~3,700 jurisdictions in 2024 │ on roughly $10M/year. │ ✕ CISA funding to the cooperative agreement terminated; election security │ program wound down 2025–26. As of early September 2026 more than $39.6M that │ Congress directed to the EI-ISAC in April 2026 had not been released. │ ├─◆ 8. ⚑ THE LEVER PROBLEM — what a state can actually DO to a locality that won't comply │ │ The state is liable to the federal government. The locality does the work. The │ │ question is what connects them, and it is almost never a chain of command. │ ├─ STRONG: appoint and remove the local official .......... a few states only │ ├─ MEDIUM: certify/decertify equipment · withhold funding · litigate against the │ │ locality · mandamus ....................................... most states │ └─ ✕ NONE over an INDEPENDENTLY ELECTED local official, who is accountable to that │ locality's voters and not to the state. │ [Alabama told DOJ in 2012, defending a UOCAVA complaint, that the Secretary of │ State "has no authority to compel the action of a local official" and "cannot │ fire an elected Probate Judge." That answer is still structurally true in │ most states, and it is the reason federal election mandates are enforced by │ lawsuit rather than by instruction.] │ ├─◆ 9. THE MONEY — the layer that decides what the other layers can do │ ├─ HAVA authorized $3.65 BILLION total, appropriated mostly FY2003–FY2010, plus │ │ $380M in March 2018 and $425M through the CARES Act in 2020. │ │ FY2026 election security appropriation: $45 MILLION for the whole country. │ ├─ 5% state match required (52 U.S.C. § 21003(b)(5)(A)); every state has met it. │ ├─ ⚑ THE MISMATCH: HAVA money goes to STATES and the chief state election official │ │ decides its use — but LOCALITIES conduct and pay for the activities it funds. │ │ The office that receives the money is routinely not the office that spends it. │ └─ Equipment cost-sharing [GAO 2018, 46 of 51 responding]: │ acquisition — 11 states pay all · 8 share · 24 pay nothing │ maintenance — 12 pay all · 8 share · 25 pay nothing │ operation ... — 8 pay all · 11 share · 26 pay nothing │ └─◆ 10. STATE OF THE STRUCTURE — September 13, 2026, verified at build time ├─ EAC ................ ✕ zero commissioners since July 9, 2026; career staff only ├─ EAC leadership ..... career Executive Director [name unconfirmed as of Sept 2026] ├─ CISA election role . ✕ program wound down; EI-ISAC agreement defunded ├─ ERIC ............... 27 states + DC; Virginia readmitted April 30, 2026 ├─ North Carolina ..... State Board appointing authority moved from the GOVERNOR to │ the STATE AUDITOR by S.B. 382; new board seated May 7, 2025; │ Sam Hayes executive director since May 15, 2025 ├─ Mail-ballot EO ..... federal list of eligible voters + USPS delivery restrictions; │ one of two injunctions lifted by the Supreme Court 6–3 on │ August 24, 2026; further applications pending in September └─ SoS elections ...... 26 states elect a secretary of state on November 3, 2026 ``` ## Notes - **The taxonomy is stable; the roster is four years stale, and it is labelled as such.** The state-by-state lists in layer 2 come from CRS Report R45549, Table 5, published **March 4, 2019** and never revised. The four *designs* — elected secretary of state, elected lieutenant governor, appointed secretary of state, board/commission staff director — have not changed, and no state has moved between categories since. What has changed is inside the categories: who appoints the board, and who holds the seat. Any use of these counts as a 2026 snapshot needs a state-level check first. This page gives the counts with the date attached rather than laundering them into the present tense. - **Two different questions produce two different numbers, and conflating them is the most common error about this structure.** *How many states elect a secretary of state?* Thirty-five (NCSL). *How many states have an elected secretary of state as their chief election official?* Thirty-one (CRS). The four-state gap is where an elected secretary of state exists but does not run elections — North Carolina being the cleanest case, which is why [[Elaine Marshall]] has held that office since 1997 through every post-2020 controversy without being part of any of them. - **⚑ The live 2026 fight is not over the design but over the appointing authority inside it.** North Carolina did not switch from a board to a secretary of state. It moved the power to appoint the [[North Carolina State Board of Elections]] from the governor to the state auditor by statute (S.B. 382), seating a new board on May 7, 2025 and a new executive director, [[Sam Hayes]], on May 15. The category on the chart is unchanged; the control is not. This is the same shape the vault has recorded elsewhere: *the institution does the work, not the proof* — reassigning who appoints is a quieter and more durable act than abolishing the body. - **The EAC has no commissioners and the machine did not stop.** Career staff retain delegated authority to disburse HAVA grants and certify voting systems against existing standards, which covers most of what states need from the agency before November. What they cannot do is change anything — adopt new [[Voluntary Voting System Guidelines]], amend the national mail voter registration form, or attach new conditions to grants. That cuts both ways, and it is worth stating plainly: the same freeze that prevents the agency from helping also prevents it from being used to alter federal election rules before the midterm. The removals rest on *[[Trump v. Slaughter]]*, and whether that decision reaches bipartisan-by-design election agencies is unresolved; no fired commissioner has sued. - **The voluntary layer is the fragile one.** [[Electronic Registration Information Center]] membership, EI-ISAC participation, and the consensus standards of the [[National Association of Secretaries of State]] are all opt-in. None is required by statute, which is exactly why all three are reversible by a single official's decision — and why Virginia's April 30, 2026 readmission required both an executive order and a statute, the second so the next governor cannot simply leave again. - **Numbers carried with their authors attached.** 6,461 jurisdictions = the EAC's 2024 EAVS public-release file. ">10,000" = practitioner usage, repeated by the Institute for Responsive Government in July 2026. $45M = the FY2026 HAVA election security appropriation. $39.6M = the EI-ISAC funds Congress directed in April 2026 and DHS had not released as of the September 2, 2026 letter from [[Alex Padilla]] and [[Joe Morelle]]. The GAO equipment tables are from April 2018 and 46 of 51 jurisdictions responded. The queue item that commissioned this map estimated "~8,000" local jurisdictions; that figure is not carried, because it is a round number with no author behind it. - **What this map deliberately omits:** ballot access and candidate filing, campaign finance, redistricting, the presidential elector machinery, and the post-Election Day certification chain. Each has its own page or its own map. - **Officeholders named:** three, all verified at build time and all structurally load-bearing — the North Carolina executive director, the reassignment of North Carolina's appointing authority, and the EAC's empty seats. Everything else is deliberately an office rather than a person, so the map survives November 3. ## See also - [[How a Ballot Is Counted]] — what the local offices on this tree actually do on election night - [[How a Candidate Gets on the Ballot]] — what the officials on this tree actually do between January and the ballot-printing deadline: receive filings, verify signatures, and rule on removal challenges - [[How a Midterm Election Is Certified]] — the sibling map: what this structure does after the polls close - [[How a Redistricting Map Is Drawn and Challenged]] — the maps this structure has to implement - [[How Campaign Money Moves]] — the money side of the same cycle - [[2026 Midterms Hub]] — the cycle this map is built for - [[Help America Vote Act]] · [[National Voter Registration Act]] · [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] — the federal floor - [[Shelby County v. Holder]] — why the preclearance column is empty - [[Elections Clause]] · [[Independent State Legislature Theory]] · [[Moore v. Harper]] — the constitutional argument over who "the Legislature thereof" means - [[Election Assistance Commission]] — the agency in layer 1, currently without commissioners - [[Trump v. Slaughter]] — the removal-power decision the firings were justified under - [[CISA]] — the agency that held the election-security role and no longer does - [[Electronic Registration Information Center]] · [[National Association of Secretaries of State]] — the voluntary cross-state layer - [[North Carolina State Board of Elections]] · [[Wisconsin Elections Commission]] — the board model, and the state that has rebuilt it three times - [[Provisional Ballot]] · [[Risk-Limiting Audit]] · [[Mail-in Voting]] — the mechanics this structure executes - [[Election Denialism]] · [[Voter Suppression]] — the pressure this structure absorbs - [[Foundations Hub]] — parent hub for the map series