The Election Center, also known as the National Association for Election Officials (NAEO), is crucial in supporting and empowering election officials by providing opportunities for officials to collaborate, tackle shared challenges, and discover effective solutions. To further understand and address the needs of election officials, the Election Center commissioned Consilium Colorado, a consultancy focused on public and non-profit management consultation, and The Turnout to conduct an in-depth landscape analysis of state election official associations. These associations frequently aid election officials by offering training, certification, mentorship, and a forum to engage state legislatures on election policies.

Guided by the expertise of Tammy Patrick, the Chief Program Officer of The Election Center, and Pam Anderson, President of Consilium Colorado, who ran the Colorado County Clerks Association (CCCA) for many years, this project seeks to understand the development and operational stages of these state associations across the 50 states. We aim to create a self-assessment tool for associations to examine their current functions and potential paths forward, highlighting each association’s strengths, identifying existing gaps, and pinpointing opportunities for future growth. These associations serve officials across various contexts—from well-resourced, populous counties to smaller jurisdictions with limited staff. As a result, they have the potential to bridge resource disparities and ensure that all election officials have the tools they need to excel.

To gather comprehensive information, we collected and organized data on each association’s structure, including their advocacy and educational models, membership dues, leadership structures, and staffing. This analysis provides assumptions into how these associations operate and highlights areas where additional help may be needed.

Public records, such as websites and tax filings, provided a foundation for this research but also revealed interesting information on collecting dues. For instance, most associations base their membership fees on factors like member type or county population size. In Virginia, for example, dues are determined by county population. The following graph illustrates that many associations charge under $200 per member, while some associations, like Indiana’s, calculate dues based on member salaries, capping the amount at $450. Some states have more than one association. North Carolina, for example, appears twice in the graph below, once representing the county association and the other the municipal association for this reason. The data in the graph represents available public information, so it’s not exhaustive.

To deepen our understanding and fill in some missing pieces, we conducted surveys of officials within the associations and their leadership teams. At the 2024 Election Center Workshop in Portland, Oregon, we held open sessions for association members to discuss their challenges and priorities. These discussions provided valuable understanding that informed the direction of the landscape analysis. We also shared our preliminary findings at the Election Center’s National Conference in Detroit, Michigan, where additional feedback sessions allowed us to validate our initial findings and gain further clarity on the data.

The project’s findings will be compiled into a guidebook that outlines best practices and strategies for strengthening state election official associations nationwide. This project also aims to generate more consistent association data by implementing an annual self-assessment. When associations effectively educate, mentor, and advocate for their members, they enable election officials to administer elections with professionalism, confidence, and security. This guidebook will serve as a practical tool, offering a framework to help associations of all sizes secure resources, promote sustainability, and aid election officials in their essential work.

Our role in this project has been to gather, consolidate, and present data on state associations in a way that makes it accessible and valuable for others to build upon. By developing a standardized approach to collecting and sharing information, we aim to make it easier for future election official associations to self-assess, contribute to, and expand upon this work. The production of a guidebook should equip election jurisdictions associations of all sizes with a framework to evolve, secure resources, and foster sustainability within their associations.

We want to thank our state association partners and the collaborative research efforts across organizations that have made this project possible. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Election Center and Consilium Colorado and sharing the results of our work in 2025.