Election

Election law experts explain how the rise in election officials who refuse to certify results reveals a weakness in the American electoral system.

[Election Security Act](https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB22-153), which mandates that the secretary of state certify a county’s results if it misses the deadline to do so. An attorney for Hall [argued in a subsequent document](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23698708-20230206_bob-hall-written-submission-re-surry-county-complaints) that “if left unchecked, Forestieri and DeHaan may be the first of many board members throughout the state and across the political spectrum who cannot be trusted to faithfully certify election results.” A spokesperson for the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office said that “our office is not aware of any legal consequences for that action” by the commissioners. [a letter](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23698715-referral-of-otero-county-commissioners) to the state’s attorney general notifying him of “multiple unlawful actions by the Otero County Commission” and asked for “a prompt investigation.” Faced with this, two of the commissioners switched their votes, certifying the election. At the beginning of the proceeding, DeHaan argued that the hearing itself was “illegal” because it was supposed to be held in the county the board members are from. (In Sandoval County, on the other side of the state, one commissioner [voted against certification](https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2022/06/17/facing-removal-from-office-criminal-charges-otero-county-certifies-election-results/), though the four others on the panel outvoted him.) And two — the ones in Surry County — are facing potential removal from their posts by the State Board of Elections. Local elections officials “could create chaos” all the way up the chain by refusing to certify, said Alice Clapman, a senior counsel in election law at the Brennan Center for Justice. A ProPublica review of 10 instances of local officials refusing to certify 2022 results in four states found that, for the majority of them, the state election authority did not ultimately pursue official consequences. DeHaan eventually agreed to join the three on a technicality, and the board certified the election with a 4-1 vote. Not long into the meeting, however, a staffer distributed [a letter](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23698700-hall-complaint-against-surry-county-board-members-w-exhibit) from two board members stating that they were refusing to certify. It was supposed to be a routine task, marking the end of a controversial season during which