Six months before Americans cast their ballots for president, members of Congress and a host of local offices, election workers are deeply concerned about their safety and worried that unscrupulous officials will interfere with the vote.
Those are among the findings of a recent survey conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, which makes for grim reading. Virginia recently took an important step to protect poll workers, but they also need responsible leaders to build trust in the system rather than maligning it for political gain.
The Brennan Center on Monday released its annual Local Election Officials Survey, compiled from the input of 928 poll workers from across the nation. It’s a valuable exercise, more so after the lies that followed the last presidential election compelled a violent mob to ransack the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
First, some good news. Since the 2020 vote, 92% of election workers report they have taken steps to bolster safety for staff and systems, including partnerships with local law enforcement to protect workers and facilities and improving cybersecurity to shield data from theft.
Most also report that state legislatures have passed laws to insulate election officials from intimidation and threats. That includes Virginia, where the General Assembly this year approved a measure allowing workers to remove their addresses and other identifying information from publicly available voting information.
That such laws are necessary speaks to the concerns expressed in the survey. According to the Brennan Center, 38% of election workers report being harassed, abused or threatened due to their work, representing an 8% increase over last year. Of those who experienced such behavior, 61% say they were threatened in person.
It’s little wonder that more than half of respondents (54%) say they fear for the safety of their colleagues and 27% say they are somewhat concerned or very concerned they will be assaulted at home or work because of their jobs. Those numbers also represent a substantial increase from 2023.
Predictably, experiencing threats and living in fear has taken its toll, and 34% of workers say they know people who have left their posts as a result. Twenty percent report they are unlikely to continue in their roles for the 2026 midterm elections, setting the stage for massive turnover in these critical positions.
These threats and the exodus of election officials is a direct result of a hostile political climate stoked by irresponsible public officials, notably former President Donald Trump. He lied about non-existent voter fraud and illegal actions by election workers. These lies continue to be echoed by his acolytes, which undermines confidence in our democratic systems.
Virginia is not immune to this, as Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares have both called for greater “election integrity” — despite the fact the commonwealth’s elections are accurate and secure. It may satiate their base and curry favor with Trump supporters, but it has a harmful effect on public confidence in our system.
Online conspiracy theories even led to the administration withdrawing Virginia from the Education Resources Information Center, a program that verifies voter rolls and encourages registration that the commonwealth helped start under Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell.
That action made our elections less trustworthy, and the reciprocal arrangements made with other states to verify voter data are an insufficient substitute for a system that served Virginia well. Perhaps that’s why 62% of election workers report being worried about political interference in how they do their jobs.
The men and women who staff our election offices deserve better than this, and a failure to speak up on their behalf will lead to more departures. They deserve to be protected from threats and intimidation, and they should know that those in power aren’t actively working to cast doubt on the security of our election systems.
These workers are sounding the alarm about the future of our democracy. We need to hear them and respond accordingly.
