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Threats of violence spark fear of election worker exodus
[The Hill] There is growing concern that election workers will leave their posts in droves following a 2020 presidential contest that saw an unprecedented rise in violent threats against administrators.Election workers had their homes broken into. Their private information was maliciously posted online. Some fled with their families into hiding. Others faced down armed crowds outside their workplaces and homes. And nearly nine months after Election Day, the threats persist. "It’s absolutely going to lead to an unprecedented exodus of a whole generation, I think, of professional election administrators," David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told The Hill. Nearly 1 in 6 local election workers received threats of violence, and almost 1 in 3 said they feel unsafe because of their job, according to an April survey by the Brennan Center for Justice. Although no central database tracks departures among the nation’s estimated 8,000 local election workers, one expert told The Hill that there is now a "perfect storm of low morale and high turnover." "The data are hard to come by, but anyone who has been around elections for a while will tell you that the number of election administrators leaving their jobs this year is much higher than ever," said Matthew Weil, director of the Elections Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The threats of violence have emerged when the task of election administration has grown more complex, but while workers remain relatively low paid compared to similar government employees. At the same time, more than one in three election officials are eligible for retirement by 2024, according to a study by the Democracy Fund. Posted by: Besoeker 2021-08-02 |
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