Threats against election workers have real consequences.
About 20% of election workers said they may not work in the next presidential election.
When experienced election workers quit, that makes it harder to run smooth, secure elections.
In New Mexico, a partisan election observer followed an election worker by car after the polls closed. The election workers said she might not work elections in the future because of how rattling the experience was.
In Georgia, a mother and daughter, Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman, who worked the 2020 election got harassed and received death threats. The threats got so bad that Ms. Freeman fled her home for her safety.
These stories are not rare. One in six election workers say that they have personally received threats.
About 20% of election workers say they may not work in the next presidential election. Among those, about a third cited too many political leaders attacking the voting system, even though they know it is fair.
What Happens When Election Workers Quit?
When election workers quit, it means the people working the polls have less experience according to former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt. Schmidt, a Republican, got death threats for not going along with former President Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen.
“The consequence of this threat environment is that you have more people leaving and they’re replaced by less experienced election administrators or people who want to undermine confidence in our system of government,” Schmidt said.
Getting serious about election integrity means keeping election workers with years of experience safe in their jobs. If we want to protect our elections, we must first protect our election workers.