Election Readiness
A smooth transition of power within the executive branch requires significant preparation and planning. An agency’s ethics office plays a vital role in preparing and ensuring that new agency leadership, irrespective of the outcome of the election, can serve with integrity.
Responsibilities of the Designated Agency Ethics Official (DAEO)
The DAEO, acting directly or through other officials, is responsible for reviewing the financial disclosure reports of prospective Presidential nominees and resolving their potential conflicts of interest. The DAEO also plays a critical role in providing initial ethics briefings to new leadership. Conversely, the DAEO must provide post-employment guidance to outgoing employees.
Not later than 12 months before any Presidential election, the DAEO evaluates whether the agency's ethics program has an adequate number of trained agency ethics officials to deliver effective support in the event of a Presidential transition. In the absence of a Presidential transition, the DAEO can still expect turnover in agency political leadership and should plan for an increased workload in advice and counsel, financial disclosure, and ethics training.
Key Legal Authorities
Resources
2024 Presidential Election Readiness
This webpage features current resources, as well as an archive of past resources, for Presidential campaigns, Presidential Transition Teams, prospective nominees to Presidentially appointed, Senate-confirmed (PAS) positions, the public, and the media to support successful pre and post-election activities.
2024 Summit on Election Readiness (PDF)
Each month in 2024, OGE will host offerings (virtual and in-person) to build knowledge and skills ethics officials need to successfully navigate the periods prior to and after a Presidential election. All the content ethics officials would receive over a week-long event will be delivered throughout the year closer to the time that they are likely to need to apply it. Additionally, OGE will offer opportunities to exchange program practices and build their professional network.
2020 Presidential Election Readiness
This page provides resources for presidential candidates, presidential transition teams, nominees to presidentially-appointed Senate-confirmed positions, and external presidential election readiness and transition-related websites.
Video: Are You Ready? Election Readiness Curriculum
OGE has created a curriculum of courses to help the ethics community prepare for the Presidential election and the period that follows. On the curriculum page are video recordings of discussions with election experts, courses on post-employment, resources planning, and financial disclosures, as well as links to helpful resources.
Post-Election Readiness Review
In 2012 OGE assessed the post-election readiness at the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and State, which collectively account for nearly 40 percent of all Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate. Each review report reflects the essential elements of a successful ethics program: succession planning, specific and continuous training, and a program structure ensuring accountability. Agencies may find the review of these reports helpful as they look for ways to evaluate and improve their own ethics program’s presidential election readiness.
Agency Practices
As the supervising ethics office, OGE has insight into the methods, procedures, and practices of over 130 agency ethics programs and seeks to highlight these practices as a resource for improving ethics programs across the executive branch. The following practices are gathered from OGE program reviews, agency responses to Annual Agency Ethics Program Questionnaires and data calls, and OGE summits and conferences. While no single approach is one-size-fits-all, ethics officials may find other agencies’ practices useful to the effective and efficient administration of their own ethics program.