Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew named chair of national election standards board

Douglas County voters may notice more consistent ballot standards, better accessibility practices and stronger election security in the years ahead after County Clerk Jamie Shew was named chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Standards Board executive committee.

Shew, who has served as Douglas County clerk and county election officer since 2004, became the first representative from Kansas to lead the board’s executive committee. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission announced the election after the board’s annual meeting held April 28-29 in Washington, D.C.

The Standards Board is a 110-member body created under the Help America Vote Act, with 55 state election officials and 55 local election officials. It helps the federal commission carry out election-administration mandates, and its members elect a nine-member executive board. Shew will serve this year with Vice Chair Dwight Shellman of Colorado and Secretary Kathy Placencia of Rhode Island.

For Douglas County, the appointment reaches well beyond Washington. The clerk’s office runs elections, accounts payable, payroll, tax roll management and other general government operations, so any shift in federal guidance on election equipment, security or training can affect how ballots are handled in Lawrence and across the county. Shew has already put that kind of operational work at the center of the office, overseeing a redesign focused on accessibility, organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

One concrete example is the office’s RFID tracking system for election equipment, which helped earn Douglas County the Election Center Eagle Award in 2023. The county also received the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Outstanding Innovation in Election Administration Award that year, recognition that underscored how local election administration in Douglas County has become a model for managing equipment, procedures and voter service.

Shew’s national role comes at a time when Kansas election offices have faced intense pressure from harassment and conspiracy theories, and when officials have pushed for more training, security and stable funding. In 2023, reporting showed nearly one-third of Kansas election officials had left since 2020, a level of turnover that made experienced local leaders more valuable.

The annual meetings also drew about 150 state and local election officials to Chicago for the Local Leadership Council and Standards Board sessions, where federal partners from the FBI, the United States Postal Service and the United States Postal Inspection Service answered questions and shared resources. For Douglas County, Shew’s elevation means the person running elections here will also help shape the national standards that guide how those elections are protected, administered and trusted.