Dear Election Colleagues
In the spirit of “See something; say something” I feel the need to give this direct warning to my election colleagues.
As a profession, election officials are an optimistic, idealistic group of people from all walks of life and representing all political persuasions. The optimism is a natural result of successfully administering democracy for generations in a system based upon trust, good will and a presumption of honesty from all quarters. The current threats to elections are exploiting these characteristics by exploiting the inherent trust and good will of election officials, in the name of election integrity, while offering no trust or good will in return.
The threats to future elections are organizing in plain sight and they are they come from a new vector- trusted stakeholders, elected officials and insiders. The strategies were tested in Virginia in the 2021 Gubernatorial election and are now being rolled out in all 50 states. In the past, the elections community downplayed security challenges in advance of the 2016 and 2020 elections only to have to develop countermeasures after the fact. In 2022, the threat is telegraphing its plans. Election administrators need to prepare and act now to mitigate challenges to the integrity of the mid term elections. The highly visible threats to the safety of officials is only one of a multi-pronged effort to influence the outcome of elections.
There have been several well sourced accounts telling the same story- a story that election administrators need to be aware of and prepare against. Rather than risk that my personal experiences color the perceived threat, I offer links to several of the reports for the reader to judge for themselves.
The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/us/politics/republican-poll-monitors-election-activists.html?referringSource=articleShare
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/30/republican-recruit-poll-workers-election-integrity
The Minnesota Reformer: https://minnesotareformer.com/2022/06/23/crockett-is-part-of-a-national-push-to-recruit-an-army-of-activists-to-watch-elections/
The Bolly Insider: https://www.bollyinside.com/news/about-the-lawyer-who-plotted-to-overturn-trumps-defeat-recruits-election-deniers-to-surveillance-the-vote
The EAC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sc0mEte4b0&t=3s
Many of our colleagues have already had to endure these threats in 2022 and their experiences should be heeded. https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/shasta-county-clerk-responds-to-allegations-of-not-following-some-election-regulations/article_115b4c42-e793-11ec-87a3-475380405439.html
For those who remain unconcerned, I share the words of the poet John Donne, “Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”
Election Administration Theories and Praxis 