The functioning of the U.S. electoral process increasingly comes down to resolving election law disputes in court. These election law cases are extraordinarily important to the democratic process, often concerning fundamental issues such as ballot access, accurate vote counts, and voter challenges. 

Created in 2005 as a joint venture of the National Center for State Courts and the William & Mary Law School, the Election Law Program seeks to provide practical assistance to state court judges called upon to resolve difficult election law disputes. Resources include an Election Law Manual, a Judicial Orders Database, streamable webinars, a resource library, and an online database of state election laws and regulations.

The Program also hosts a symposium addressing a timely election law topic. Past symposia have featured an array of distinguished panelists discussing topics such as judicial campaign finance, redistricting, the role of secretaries of state in managing elections, and "campaigning in the courts" (a panel designed to examine the rising tide of election litigation and campaign strategy).

The Program’s recent work has been generously funded by the following institutional donors: the Democracy Fund, the Klarman Family Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.