Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew elected chair of U.S. Election Assistance Commission Standards Board

On May 5, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission announced that Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew was elected chair of the Standards Board executive committee during its annual meeting April 28-29 in Washington, D.C. He is the first representative from Kansas to serve as chair of the board.

The Standards Board assists the EAC in carrying out its mandates under federal law. It consists of 55 state election officials selected by their chief state election official and 55 local election officials selected through a process supervised by the chief state election official. Shew has served on the board since 2021.

Shew will serve this year alongside Vice Chair Dwight Shellman, county regulation and support manager for the Colorado State Elections Division, and Secretary Kathy Placencia, director of elections for Rhode Island. 

Shew also serves on the EAC Local Leadership Council and co-chairs the Election Center Legislative Committee.

The EAC was established by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. It is an independent, bipartisan commission charged with ensuring secure, accurate and accessible elections by developing guidance to meet HAVA requirements, adopting voluntary voting system guidelines and serving as a national clearinghouse of information on election administration. The EAC also accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, as well as administers the use of HAVA funds.

Shew was elected county clerk and county election officer for Douglas County in 2004 and is serving his sixth term. 

He is active in the Kansas Association of Counties, the Bipartisan Policy Center Task Force on Elections, and the Kansas County Clerks and Elections Officials Association, where he served as president from 2014 to 2015. 
Shew holds a Master County Clerk designation in Kansas and is a Certified Election Registration Administrator through the Auburn University/Election Center Professional Education Program.

Since taking office, Shew has led a redesign of the Douglas County Clerk's Office with a focus on accessibility, organizational effectiveness and efficiency. The office oversees elections, accounts payable, payroll, tax roll management and general government operations. He has been recognized for innovative initiatives in reducing voting barriers, improving chain-of-custody security, and election administration financing. 

In 2023, his office received the EAC Outstanding Innovation in Election Administration Award (Small/Medium Jurisdiction) and the Election Center Eagle Award for developing an RFID tracking system for election equipment. He has been honored by the Lawrence-Douglas County League of Women Voters, Leadership Lawrence, Lawrence Rotary Club, and the University of Kansas City Managers and Trainees program. He regularly presents to local, state and national audiences on election administration topics.