Washington, DC — Today, Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-06) introduced the Election Official Integrity Act of 2019, a bill to prevent chief state election officials from participating in federal campaigns and prohibit the use of official authorities to affect elections.

“Just like it would be wrong to have a player referee a game, it’s wrong for election officials to participate in federal campaigns. The Election Official Integrity Act represents a commonsense first step toward restoring the public’s confidence in our electoral process,” McBath said. “Our elections are too important to risk even the appearance of impropriety. It’s my hope that state legislatures will follow our lead and ensure that all elections are clean and fair.”

State election officials are tasked with ensuring that their elections treat all campaigns and candidates fairly. The Election Official Integrity Act would prohibit chief election officials from participating in campaigns for candidates seeking federal office. It would make it unlawful for these officials to serve on a campaign committee, be involved with campaign fundraising, or use their official authority to affect the result of a federal election. It would also require these election officials to recuse themselves if they or their immediate family members run for office in an election they would otherwise oversee.

The House is expected to vote on this legislation later this week as a part of H.R 1, the For the People Act of 2019.

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