Government Counsel and Election Officials Network

GOVERNMENT ATTORNEYS AND ELECTION OFFICIALS ARE STRONGER TOGETHER.

The Government Counsel and Election Officials Network (GCEON) is a bipartisan network that connects and supports local government counsel and election officials. While election officials are responsible for administering elections, local government attorneys also have an important role to play in our elections. GCEON works to support, build, and strengthen the relationships and trust between these two communities.

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WHAT WE DO

The Government Counsel and Election Officials Network (GCEON) brings together local election officials and government counsel to support operational and legal preparedness.

"No studies examine who supplies legal assistance to local election officials, nor whether those individuals have adequate training in notoriously complex state and federal election law to provide competent counsel."

–Professor Rebecca Green, "Legal Support for Local Election Officials" 81 Wash & Lee L. Rev. 1017 (2024)
“The [rise in] election litigation in 2020 was not a one-off. High levels of litigation persisted in 2022; they did not return to 2018 levels.”

–Miriam Seifter & Adam Sopko, Election-Litigation Data: 2018, 2020, 2022 State and Federal Court Filings, State Democracy Rsch. Initiative
“Large cities are more likely to have attorneys on staff who regularly work with LEOs on election matters…Smaller jurisdictions, where elections are oftentimes run by part-time clerks (or clerks for whom running elections is only a fraction of their responsibility) typically secure legal support from county attorneys.”

–Professor Rebecca Green, "Legal Support for Local Election Officials" 81 Wash & Lee L. Rev. 1017 (2024)
“Some attorneys who represent LEOs have encyclopedic knowledge of state election laws, often because they practice in jurisdictions where election disputes routinely arise; they have learned by doing…But for many county attorneys, particularly in smaller jurisdictions, election law is neither a subject they studied in law school nor a regular part of their job.”

–Professor Rebecca Green, "Legal Support for Local Election Officials" 81 Wash & Lee L. Rev. 1017 (2024)