The National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) is a non-partisan professional organization for state election directors. NASED primarily serves as an annual conference to share best practices, but the organization has worked with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to implement election measures throughout the country.

NASED has 61 members, including representatives from U.S. states and territories. ¹

NASED’s sole “Gold Level” affiliate is Democracy Fund, though it also receives funding from for-profit voting technology companies. ²

History

The National Association of State Election Directors was established in 1989 by a group of state election officials who had been meeting informally each year at conferences hosted by the National Association of Secretaries of State. Its first mandate was to aid the implementation of the Voting System Standards reforms enacted by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in 1990. Three years later, NASED worked with the FEC to implement the National Voter Registration Act. ³

After the 2000 election, NASED was a “key advisor” to the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, which was co-chaired by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. ⁴

Funding

The funding for the National Association of State Election Directors more than doubled from 2016 to 2020. ^{5 6}

NASED lists “corporate affiliates” on its website. The only “Gold Level” affiliate, who donated $20,000, is Democracy Fund, the left-of-center policy-oriented foundation created by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. ⁷

The “Silver Level” affiliates, who donated $10,000, include Democracy Live, VR Systems, VOTEC, and Yubico, all of which are for-profit voting technology companies. ⁸

The “Bronze Level” affiliates, who donated $5,000, include Dominion Voting Systems, the voting technology company falsely accused of involvement in election fraud by supporters of President Donald Trump, and Amazon Web Services, as well as numerous other voting technology companies. ⁹

2020 Election

Poll Worker, Esq. Initiative

During the 2020 election, the National Association of State Election Directors partnered with the American Bar Association and the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) to launch the Poll Worker, Esq. Initiative to mobilize lawyers to serve as poll workers who can use their legal knowledge to ensure a fair election. ¹⁰

Election Fraud Allegations

In June 2020, President Donald Trump (R) declared that the heavy use of mail-in ballots during the election due to the COVID-19 pandemic would lead to “the most rigged election” in the history of the United States. When asked about the claim, a NASED spokesperson said there was no evidence to support President Trump’s claim. ¹¹

After the election, NASED, NASS, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a joint statement saying, “there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised” and “we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections.” They declared the 2020 election to have been “the most secure in American history.” ¹²

In NASED’s 2021 annual conference, members discussed dealing with fraud allegations and receiving physical threats from supporters of President Trump. ¹³

Leadership

National Association of State Election Directors president Meagan Wolfe is the administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. In 2021, Wolfe faced calls for her resignation from at least ten Republican state legislators over accusations of voter fraud for ordering election clerks to mail absentee ballots to nursing homes contrary to normal election procedures, which call for in-person visits to distribute ballots. Wolfe declined to resign and said that she chose to mail them because the nursing home employees were not allowing election officials in due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that “state law requires absentee ballots be mailed when election workers are unable to make visits to such facilities.” ¹⁴

1. “NASED Members.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/members.
2.  “2022 NASED Corporate Affiliates.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/corporate-affiliates.
3. “NASED’s History.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/about-nased.
4. “NASED’s History.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/about-nased.
5. “National Association of State Election Directors 990.” ProPublica. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/611228741/05_2021_prefixes_59-62%2F611228741_202012_990_2021052018150567.
6. “National Association of State Election Directors.” ProPublica. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/611228741.
7. “2022 NASED Corporate Affiliates.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/corporate-affiliates.
8. “2022 NASED Corporate Affiliates.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/corporate-affiliates.
9. “2022 NASED Corporate Affiliates.” NASED. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.nased.org/corporate-affiliates.
10. “ABA joins NASS and NASED to mobilize lawyers as poll workers for Election Day.” American Bar Association. August 26, 2020. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2020/08/aba-joins-nass-and-nased-to-mobilize-lawyers-as-poll-workers-for/
11. Seldin, Jeff. “Trump Claims About Election Rigging Stump Some State Officials, Lawmakers.” VOA News. June 22, 2020. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_us-politics_trump-claims-about-election-rigging-stump-some-state-officials-lawmakers/6191565.html.
12. Tucker, Eric; Bajak, Frank. “Repudiating Trump, officials say election ‘most secure.’” AP News. November 13, 2020. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://apnews.com/article/top-officials-elections-most-secure-66f9361084ccbc461e3bbf42861057a5.
13. Hamburger, Tom; Heldermind, Rosalind S.; Gardner, Amy. “’We are in harm’s way’: Election officials fear for their personal safety amid torrents of false claims about voting.” Washington Post. August 11, 2021. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/election-officials-threats/2021/08/11/bb2cf002-f9ed-11eb-9c0e-97e29906a970_story.html.
14. ^[1] Beck, Molly. “Wisconsin election administrator Megan Wolfe won’t resign despite calls from GOP for her to leave.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. November 1, 2021. Accessed May 10, 2022. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2021/11/01/wisconsin-elections-administrator-meagan-wolfe-says-she-wont-resign/6238085001/.