Election Commission - Boards of Elections in The United States

Boards of Elections in The United States

A board of elections is a body of officials designated to administer elections in some U.S. states and municipalities, such as New York City. The board is typically not under the direct control of the executive branch and therefore is buffered somewhat from political pressure.

An example of a board of elections in the process of selecting election commissioners appears in the image to the right—the Tangipahoa Parish Board of Election Supervisors. Such a board is established by the Louisiana Revised Statutes § 18:484. The statute specifies that such a board in every one of Louisiana's 64 parishes (counties) shall be constituted of a representative of each recognized political party plus the Registrar of Voters, the Governor's appointee, and the clerk of court. The statute articulates explicit charges to the board, including stipulating the manner of selecting the commissioners:

"A ball made of plastic or a similar material with a number corresponding to each of the numbers on the compiled list of proposed commissioners for a precinct shall be placed in a receptacle and thoroughly mixed. The members of the parish board of election supervisors may participate in the mixing."

Read more about this topic:  Election Commission

Famous quotes containing the words united states, boards, elections, united and/or states:

    Prior to the meeting, there was a prayer. In general, in the United States there was always praying.
    Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)

    The idea that nations should love one another, or that business concerns or marketing boards should love one another, or that a man in Portugal should love a man in Peru of whom he has never heard—it is absurd, unreal, dangerous.... The fact is we can only love what we know personally. And we cannot know much.
    —E.M. (Edward Morgan)

    Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates.
    Gore Vidal (b. 1925)

    Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada are the horns, the head, the neck, the shins, and the hoof of the ox, and the United States are the ribs, the sirloin, the kidneys, and the rest of the body.
    William Cobbett (1762–1835)

    A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great government of the United States helpless and contemptible.
    Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)