The Election Law Program is an advocacy resource that aims to provide information for judges presiding over election challenges. 1 The National Center for State Courts and the William and Mary Law School established the program in 2005. 1
The judicial resources include an Election Law Manual, a Judicial Orders Database, webinars, a resource library, and an online database of state election laws and regulations. 2
Donors to the Election Law Program include the Democracy Fund, Hewlett Foundation, Election Trust Initiative, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Klarman Foundation. 3 4
Background
The Election Law Program says it aims to help judges navigate election challenges with resources to support state courts in resolving election disputes. It provides guides to expert analysis. 1
The National Center for State Courts and the William and Mary Law School established the Election Law Program as a joint venture in 2005. 1 The program offers paid fellowships for William and Mary Law School students. 5
William and Mary Law Professor and Dean Emeritus Davison Douglas co-founded the Election Law Program in 2005 as a response to the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida and the Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision. 4
The ELP focuses on issues such as ballot access, accurate vote counts, and voter challenges. 1
Judicial Resources
The Election Law Program says that the “functioning of the U.S. electoral process increasingly comes down to resolving election law disputes in court.” 2 The organization says that judges often lack the resources to hear complicated election cases that must be decided quickly. 6
The group says the materials it provides are targeted to judges who are called to resolve these disputes, as well as lawyers, journalists, and others interested in American electoral processes. 6
The Election Law Program updated the Election Law Manual, which was first published in 2008, in 2022. 5
The Election Law Program has established the Election Law Navigator project as a research directory to address the surge in election litigation. 3
The program has been developing an “eBenchbook,” which is an online resource aimed at creating a complete, up-to-date repository of all 50 states’ election codes and regulations with supplementary materials to help judges understand how election codes operate and are interpreted in each state. 5
The organization hosts an annual symposium addressing election-law topics. Past events featured panelists discussing topics such as judicial campaign finance, redistricting, and the role of secretaries of state in managing elections. 2
The organization’s website includes a “war game” approach that tests state election statutes. 6 The Election Law Program is also promoting a judicial orders database that gives examples for judges of past judicial orders resolving common election disputes. 5
The Election Law Program collaborates with the Carter Center and the National Conference of State Legislatures to produce reports. This included a 2019 report on legal election emergencies. 5
The Election Law Program works closely with its student arm, the William and Mary Election Law Society, to run an Election Law Speaker series. 5 The William and Mary Election Law Society runs State of Elections, a student-managed blog that studies how Americans vote in each state and investigates challenges to voting. 7
Funding
Funders of the Election Law Program include the Democracy Fund, Hewlett Foundation, Election Trust Initiative, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Klarman Foundation, which typically donate to left-leaning causes. 3 4
The Democracy Fund donated $300,000 to the Election Law Program in 2023 to support a state election law “eBenchbook” that contextualizes election statutes in all 50 states. 4 The grant also supported the Alliance of Students at the Polls (ASAP), a law student initiative that began at William and Mary in 2020 to mobilize law students nationwide to support state and local election officials. 4
Leadership
As of 2025, Rebecca Green was serving as a co-director of the Election Law Program. She established both the Election Law Navigator project and the Election War Games for state judicial conferences in Virginia, Colorado, and Wisconsin. 8 At that time, she was teaching courses in election law and redistricting among other topics at William and Mary Law School. 9
As of 2025, Amy McDowell was serving as a co-director of the Election Law Program. She is the chief legal officer at the National Center for State Courts. She previously directed the NCSC’s Center for Judicial Ethics. 8
As of 2025, James Alcorn was the senior director of the Election Law Program. At the time, he was teaching election law at the William and Mary Law School. Previously, he was Deputy Secretary of the Virginia Department of Elections and chair of the Virginia State Board of Elections. 8
As of 2025, Mitch Bozarth was the program manager for the Election Law Program. He is a 2022 graduate of William and Mary Law School. 8
Advisory Committee
As of 2025, the Election Law Program’s advisory committee was comprised of Robert Bauer, Benjamin Ginsberg, Doug Chapin, Judd Choate, Richard L. Hasen, Samuel Issacharoff, and Waldo Jaquith. 10
As of 2025, Robert Bauer was a partner with Perkins Coie LLP. Formerly, he was a counsel to the campaign of President Barack Obama White House Counsel to President Obama. In 2013, Obama named Bauer co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, which is now a subsidiary of the United States Election Assistance Commission. 10 11
As of 2025, Benjamin Ginsberg was a partner with Jones Day. He was national counsel to the George W. Bush and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns. Ginsberg played a central role in the 2000 Florida presidential election recount. He was a co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Election Administration in 2013 and 2014. 10
As of 2025, Doug Chapin was the director of the Program for Excellence in Election Administration at the University of Minnesota. He was previously director of election initiatives for the Pew Center on the States. He was an elections counsel to the Democrats on the U.S. Senate Rules Committee from 1997 to 2000. 10
As of 2025, Judd Choate was director of the Division of Elections at the Colorado Department of State, and the president of the National Association of State Election Directors. Previously, he practiced election law at the Denver firm of Kelly Garnsey Hubbell & Lass. He was also a law clerk for former Colorado Supreme Court Justice Alex J. Martinez. 10
As of 2025, Richard L. Hasen was chancellor’s professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. From 2001 to 2010, he was founding co-editor of the quarterly peer-reviewed publication, the Election Law Journal. He was elected to the American Law Institute in 2009 and was an adviser on ALI’s law reform project, Principles of Election Law: Resolution of Election Disputes. 10
As of 2025, Samuel Issacharoff was the Bonnie and Richard Reiss Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law. 10
As of 2025, Waldo Jaquith was working for 18F, an office within the General Services Administration. He worked in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy where he developed Ethics.gov. 10
References
- Election Law Program. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.electionlawprogram.org/
- “About the Election Law Program.” Election Law Program. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.electionlawprogram.org/about-election-law-program
- “About the Project.” Election Law Navigator. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://electionlawnavigator.org/
- Morrill, David. “W&M’s Election Law Program receives grant to contextualize election statutes.” William and Mary Law School. October 31, 2023. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://news.wm.edu/2023/10/31/wms-election-law-program-receives-grant-to-contextualize-election-statutes/
- “Election Law Program.” William and Mary Law School. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://law.wm.edu/academics/intellectuallife/researchcenters/electionlaw/
- Election Law Program. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.electionlawprogram.org/election-law-program-0
- “About the Election Law Society.” William and Mary Law School. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://law.wm.edu/academics/intellectuallife/researchcenters/electionlaw/electionlawsociety/
- “About.” Election Law Navigator. Accessed November 11, 2025. https://electionlawnavigator.org/about/
- “The 2025 FSU Election Law Conference.” Florida State University. September 12-13, 2025. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://law.fsu.edu/2025-fsu-election-law-conference
- “Advisory Committee.” Election Law Program. Accessed November 10, 2025. https://www.electionlawprogram.org/about/advisory-committee
- “PCEA.” United States Election Assistance Commission. Accessed November 18, 2025. https://www.eac.gov/pcea.