(NewsNation) — As candidates gear up for 2024, a new survey of local election officials found high rates of turnover, in part due to threats and harassment as well as concerns about political interference.
Local election officials, who handle the logistics of voting and ensure all rules are followed, were once little-known players in the political machine. But after former President Donald Trump’s false claims of rigged elections and fraud, the spotlight turned on local workers and their work.
A survey from Benenson Strategy Group found high rates of turnover with local officials, equivalent to 1-2 local officials leaving office every day since the 2020 election. One big reason is fear of harassment, threats, or intimidation as workers try to do their jobs.
Among local officials, 18% said they knew of one or two officials who left jobs due to safety concerns, while 4% said they know of many workers who left over fears for their safety. Among local election officials, 51% indicated they were somewhat or very concerned that threats, harassment and intimidation would make it difficult to recruit or retain new officials.
More than three quarters of officials said they believed threats against local election workers have increased and nearly half worry about the safety of their colleagues. Nearly 1 in 3 election officials reported having experienced threats, harassment or abuse and half of those reported incidents occurred in person. Almost half of those threats went unreported, and those that were reported more frequently went to local law enforcement rather than federal officials.
Concerns of political interference are also common, with 56% of local election officials said they were somewhat or very worried about political leaders attempting to interfere in election results around the country, though only 12% said they were worried about personally facing pressure to certify an election in favor of a specific party or candidate.
Forty-three percent of election officials were also concerned that their potential colleagues might believe there was widespread fraud in recent elections, despite there being no evidence to indicate such fraud occurred.
Aside from safety. budgets were a big concern, with workers saying they were not allocated enough money to meet all needs. That includes recommended improvements to cyber security and physical security recommended by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
To address concerns going forward, 85% of workers believed CISA should do more to actively debunk false information about election administration and technology as we head toward the next presidential vote.