http://diigo.com/0czh1
Quotes:

Election Law @ Moritz (Commentary: The Persistence of Partisan Election Administration)

• In over 30 states, the chief election official – usually the secretary of state – is elected as the candidate of one of the major parties. And in most of the remaining states, the chief election official is selected by a party-affiliated official, usually the state's governor. Both systems create an inherent conflict of interest between election officials' duty to discharge their duties to all citizens and their own personal and political interests. The situation is not much better at the local level. Party-affiliated election officials run election in almost half of the local election jurisdictions in the U.S.