Election suggestions

As I enjoy my lunch watching the World Cup match, I noticed this excellent piece over at TomPaine.com. In Recipe for a Fair Election, Steven Hill advocates for a few things I've been talking about here regarding election reform. Specifically, he calls for:

• Nonpartisan election officials
• Professionalization and training of election officials
• National elections commission and national standards
• Develop “public interest” voting equipment

Regarding the nonpartisan election officials, Brad Smith suggested on the election law listserv that it's more important to have "good" election administration because bad election administration by a nonpartisan official remains, well... bad. Agreed on that point. However, I think election officials should not be overseeing an election while simultaneously chairing a campaign effort. While they may be perfectly professional and run the election fairly, the appearance of impropriety alone warrants, in my opinion, a ban on wearing both hats.