The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 11, 2024
Today’s Script
(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Disinformation spread about the 2020 election by candidates & partisan groups mobilized extremists to harass or threaten election officials. Many of those officials resigned. But a large national study also found other reasons for large-scale turnover, and some hope for the 2024 election.
The Bipartisan Policy Center surveyed over 18,000 chief elections officers in all 50 states and confirmed that turnover reached a 20-year high in 2022 of 38.7%. While the survey acknowledges that threats and harassment are factors, it also found that older election officials are retiring, due to an increasing workload, underfunding, and an increasingly complex election system. Turnover is not just limited to specific states, either, but both red and blue states, and large and small communities.
Despite the turnover nationally, the researchers found that most officials were being replaced with election workers with recent experience. For 2024, 65% of local election officials will have run a Presidential election previously, down only slightly from 2020.
It also found that turnover was highest for election officials in large jurisdictions, reaching 46% between 2018 and 2022. Sixty-seven percent of those officials also reported being abused, harassed or threatened. The good news is that researchers found most replacement chief election officers have multiple years of experience in running federal elections.
You can find the Bipartisan Policy Center study linked from our website, AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. I’m Brian Beihl.
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Bipartisan Policy Center – Election Official Turnover Rates from 2000-2024
American Democracy Minute – Rules, and ‘Election Integrity’ Vigilantes Led to an Election Official Brain-Drain
Pew Research Center – Older people account for large shares of poll workers and voters in U.S. general elections
Brennan Center for Justice – Election Officials Under Attack
U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Be a Poll Worker!
Power the Polls – HELP STAFF YOUR LOCAL POLLING PLACE
Groups Taking Action:
Issue One, Election Official Legal Defense Network, Power the Polls, Center for American Progress
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