In aqueous solution, the association or dissociation of oppositely charged ions requires the collective rearrangement of surrounding water molecules, which solvate bound ion pairs differently than individual ions. The solvent fluctuations that enable these collective rearrangements drive the dynamics of ion pairing and unpairing and therefore play a fundamental role in many chemical reactions. Near the surface of an electrode these collective solvent fluctuations can differ significantly from that of the bulk liquid and these differences can affect the rates and mechanisms of aqueous electrochemical reactions. Here, I present the results of molecular simulations that are aimed at investigate the microscopic processes of aqueous ion pairing when it takes place near but not in direct contact with an extended metallic electrode. These results show that the presence of an electrode has little effect on the mechanistic details of ionic charge separation, but can significantly influence the thermodynamics and kinetics of the process.