Bipartisan election officials from multiple key battleground states met in Michigan on Thursday to discuss Election Day concerns and plans to ensure a secure and glossy Election Day experience.
Representatives from Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania gathered at the Gerald R. Ford Library in Ann Arbor for a series of panels hosted by Keep our Republic, a nonpartisan group that aims to educate about threats to the U.S. election system and build trust in it.
Panelists began the day by discussing safeguards to protect against duplicate voting, dead and non-citizen votes, and how to ensure true voting results. They then discussed steps being taken to ensure a glossy Election Day experience for election workers, election observers, and voters.
When asked what actions board officials are taking to support the well-being of regular and volunteer election workers, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections, responded that physical and mental well-being are a priority for their office.
In addition to extensive training on de-escalation and wellness and resilience, North Carolina also arranged sessions with a physician through the U.S. Department of Defense, recognizing that many election officials suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and are planning to return before Election Day.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has organized an election threat task force with federal, state and local partners, and a training unit has been created in response to high turnover of election workers in the state and across the country, said Pennsylvania Secretary of State and former GOP elections official Al Schmidt. The unit is led by a veteran county elections director who will train up-to-date election directors to ensure the election runs smoothly.
Governor Shapiro Launches Election Security Task Force Ahead of 2024 Elections
Joseph Kirk, the Bartow County, Georgia, election supervisor, said there has been more messaging from the state about threats to election workers in recent election cycles. The state has also partnered with a number of organizations to disseminate information about mental health, physical safety and other knowledge election workers may need. Kirk also said his staff has training on physical and mental health threats that puts people first in these situations, whether it’s someone enraged at the polls or a natural disaster.
Moreover, Kirk said, election work is a community work, and other organizations are stepping up to provide mental health support to members of that community.
Justin Roebuck, a Republican official in Ottawa County, Michigan, said he emphasized the importance of Kirk’s statements about the community.
“Something that I don’t want to lose in this discussion is the fact that, you know, we sign up to do this for a reason and there’s joy in the process. We’re part of this incredible, long history, right, of allowing people to engage in the democratic process and choose their government,” Roebuck said.
Roebuck said that in addition to discussions about resilience and leveraging resources made available by the state, he and his team supported each other with positive stories.
“We have so many positive stories, so many first-time voters coming into the precincts and getting high-fives and cheers from election workers when they vote. We go out into the community and next week I’m talking to a class of fourth-graders and we’re doing an election simulation with Oreo cookies,” Roebuck said. “We’re using, you know, we’re flavor testing Oreos and we’re voting for our favorite Oreos. And those kids are coming in and asking legitimate questions that some adults don’t ask about voting, so I think all of those things are so important to remind ourselves of.”
As election officials adjust to a up-to-date environment of threats and harassment, Wisconsin Election Commission Administrator and Chief Clerk Meagan Wolfe said all officials are an inspiration.
“They have shown that we will not let fear rule us. We will not let bullies or harassment dictate how we act, that we are stronger, more resilient, and we will do our jobs the way we have always done them with integrity,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said that as election workers take action, the focus is on empowering them, ensuring they cooperate with law enforcement and assess the security of their offices and polling places.
As election officials have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, panelists also discussed procedures for election observers and challengers in their states.
Schmidt noted the significant role election observers played in ensuring transparency in Pennsylvania’s elections, but said it was equally significant for them to understand what they cannot do in terms of interfering with the voting process, harassing or intimidating voters, or supporting or opposing a particular candidate.
In Arizona, these observers are appointed by county party chairs, Arizona State Election Director Lisa M. Marra. However, unlike election workers, who must undergo training under state law, there are no such requirements for observers, who may or may not have received training in basic principles.
“Often people say they’ve seen all these things that are illegal and are happening that aren’t, but they don’t know about it because they don’t know the law, because they’re not trained,” Marra said, noting that she supports something like an hour-long training to ensure election observers know the ground rules for their job.
Kirk noted that such classes exist in Georgia because election observers are required to complete training through the agency that appoints them, and many officials offer optional training on local election processes.
Kirk added that it’s also significant for observers to understand what they’re seeing and what to do if something goes wrong. He noted that election observers in Georgia are different from those challenging election results in other states.
“In Georgia, election observers observe what is happening. If they see something wrong, they report it to the person who appointed them or to the election office, not to the elections manager, where[as] In other states, their role is more about questioning what election workers should be doing,” Kirk said.
Additionally, there is also a public area where interested people can check if there is a space, but if they want to go beyond the check-in area, they must undergo appropriate training, Kirk explained.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, also encouraged those interested in the trial to join as election workers, not just election observers. Another panelist joked, “Then you’re complicit.”
“The question for voters is, do you want to change something? They can be observers, and you can be election workers. I’m a worker, not a whiner, so join us,” Raffensperger said.
Jonathan Brater, director of the Michigan Bureau of Elections, noted that the state has had no problems with trained election workers, regardless of the political party that trained them.
“The problems come when people come in because they got an email or find out at the last minute that something is wrong, and they get into the middle of an election process they know nothing about and they start causing trouble,” Brater said.
Michigan has updated its guidelines for objectors to make the situation clearer for election officials, Brater said. At the same time, the state has a law that makes it a crime to threaten election workers.
Lisa Posthumus Lyons, a Kent County, Michigan, clerk and former Republican member of the state House of Representatives, stressed the importance of election worker training and advocated for setting expectations for election workers.
“I think we need to make sure that our election inspectors have set expectations, that they understand that you may encounter opposing candidates in your district’s election. And instead of having this unexpected, almost combative relationship, it’s, ‘This is part of the process. I know what they’re capable of doing, and I know the role, I know what’s coming, and we’re all really part of the process together,’” Posthumus Lyons said.
Michigan’s Progress is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) charitable organization. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. For questions, contact editor Susan J. Demas: [email protected]. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook AND X.
