Clifford D. Tatum - Election Official Legal Defense Network

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Clifford “Cliff” Tatum is a Consultant for ECLS and former Harris County Elections Administrator. Cliff has over 20 years of experience as a public servant and over 16 years specific to elections at the local, state, and national level. His experience includes service as Interim Director for the Georgia State Elections Division, Executive Director for the D.C. Board of Elections, General Counsel for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and Chief Information Security Officer for the D.C. Board of Elections.

“They’re citizens. They’re professionals. They’re our neighbors. If we start to view our fellow citizens as our enemies, we’re lost.”

“Election officials never get praised if elections go right and the wrath comes down on them if they do them wrong. When we saw election officials being prosecuted for just doing their jobs... we formed [EOLDN] and we do provide pro bono legal services to any election officials who need it.”

“Those who are threatening … these officials, whether they're full-time, whether they're volunteers, whether they're in positions of the most senior responsibility or they're simply on the staff — those who threaten them need to know they cannot act with impunity. There will be a defense and it will be a robust defense."

"What we are seeing developing now is a huge step backwards from a focus on professionalized election administration to a heavy level of political interference in the work of trained election professionals. Our hope now is to provide [election officials] with a resource I wish they didn't have to have, but one I think they have desperately needed."

A Project of The Center for Election Innovation & Research ("CEIR")