Election commissions cleared after fears of election staff shortages unfounded

Threats and slander against election officials and the voting process have not eroded Americans’ trust in the system or their willingness to participate in the polls this year.

Election administrators across the country, including in seven of the most strained states and major cities such as Los Angeles and Minneapolis, are breathing a sigh of relief after a feared shortage of election workers, according to interviews with more than 25 election officials. commissions did not materialize.

CNN interviewed a number of Democratic and Republican election officials who generally said they were in good shape and had bolstered their ranks of volunteers and paid employees who work at polling places, process mail ballots and help administer elections.

A senior election official in Raleigh, North Carolina, said they are “fully staffed” with more than 3,000 workers trained this year, a slight increase from 2020. The clerk of a small Michigan town near Lansing said he has more poll workers than he does. needs. And officials in Atlanta said they even “had to stop hiring” after a surge in interest.

“Based on recent engagement, large election jurisdictions are now well positioned to meet their staffing needs for election officials,” said Carolina Lopez, executive director of the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions, a nonprofit that works with officials of both parties who govern nearly 100 election jurisdictions. largest election bureaus across the country.

Former President Donald Trump’s actions in 2020 – repeatedly lying about how the election was being conducted and then attempting to overturn the results – ushered in a toxic era where once quiet election offices have become a dangerous frontline for American democracy.

This new climate led to a well-documented exodus of election officials and election officials, and scarcity fears. But in 2022, civic groups and election officials have stepped up efforts to fill gaps and allay concerns. It looks like their work has generally paid off for the 2024 cycle, although there are still some isolated places where more could be done.

Despite Trump’s smears against election officials, the vast majority of American voters still trust state and local election officials, according to a new report. Pew Research Center Poll released Thursday.

About 90% of Harris supporters and 57% of Trump supporters also said they were confident the 2024 election would go smoothly, the Pew poll found.

Swing states are in good shape

Election officials in Pittsburgh, the Philadelphia suburbs, Las Vegas, Reno, Madison, Green Bay and other Wisconsin municipalities, as well as a number of smaller counties in swing states, all spoke positively about the staffing situation this fall.

There are “no vacancies to fill” in Detroit, according to Daniel Baxter, the city’s top elections official. Officials have spent months preparing teams expected to process about 100,000 mail ballots in the Democratic stronghold. However, there are anecdotal examples of election workers dropping out after elections. chaos at the Detroit counting center in 2020.

“Some people who worked in 2020 said they didn’t want to participate in this election because of some of the things that happened in 2020,” said David Nathan, a Detroit elections manager who trains election workers.

Eslir Musta, elections director for Coconino County, Ariz., which includes Flagstaff, said administrators there have largely managed to keep pace with retirements.

“We initially had a group of regular poll workers who decided not to work polls anymore for personal or safety reasons,” Musta said in an interview. “But we were able to restore the numbers. We haven’t experienced that churn, except for the knowledge that goes with the people who have been running polling places for a number of years.”

Officials in Maricopa County, Ariz., also said they have good chances for early November. The sprawling district, which includes Phoenix, is home to the majority of Arizona voters. A county spokesperson told CNN that recruiting efforts were “ahead of schedule” compared to past elections and “we have no reports of problems.”

Navigating unexpected turns

Travis Doss, who heads the Georgia Association of Election Officials, said that after the Trump-backed state election commission adopted new rules by requiring ballots to be counted by hand, he heard that some poll workers were considering quitting because “it required too much” and “too many hours.” But this was decided after the judge blocked new rules.

Doss, who is also the top election official in Richmond County, home to Augusta, added that in his own county, “we have waiting lists for election workers, so we’re in a good position.”

The aftermath of Hurricane Helen in western North Carolina forced the region’s election officials earlier this month to reconsider staffing plans at polling places.

Buncombe County, home to Asheville, still has two-thirds of the originally planned poll workers to help operate early voting sites. On Election Day, the county confirmed the participation of the vast majority of the more than 500 essential workers, which county spokeswoman Cassie Day said was “excellent” given the circumstances.

However, some North Carolina election officials have expressed concerns about legislation State lawmakers passed it Thursday and are requiring some storm-damaged counties to add early voting sites as voting gets underway.

“Poll workers don’t grow on trees,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the state Board of Elections, during a webinar Thursday when CNN asked her about the legislation.

Beyond the battlefields

The nation’s largest election jurisdiction, Los Angeles County, is also in good shape.

“Fortunately, our recruitment and deployment of election workers for the upcoming general election has gone very well, and we have met our overall recruitment needs to staff and support 648 polling locations for this election,” said Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Clerk’s Office. Angeles County, where more than 4.2 million people voted in 2020.

The diverse district supports 18 languages, he said. Bilingual poll workers have been hired throughout the county, although they are still looking for more Khmer speakers.

Hamilton County, Ohio, Elections Director Sherry Poland said there is no shortage in her Cincinnati office but there are still “several” unfilled positions for Republican election officials. Kurt Bahr, elections director for St. Charles County, near St. Louis, said that “my large suburban district is purple enough that I can get enough judges from both parties.” Poland and Bahr are Republicans.

A spokesman for Minnesota’s Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, said the county is “fully staffed this year” and has not heard of any staffing shortages in surrounding areas.

“Many of our local election judges reapply year after year, and their participation is a source of civic pride,” county spokesman Joshua Yetman said in an email.

Voters trust election officials, survey shows

Despite the misinformation that sometimes dominates election discussions, these election workers continue to be trusted by voters, according to a Pew survey.

About 72% of Trump supporters trust their state election officials this year, according to the poll. (This could be the secretary of state or the chairman of the state elections board.) That’s 15 points lower than Republican voters who were asked the same question in 2018, ahead of the 2020 election.

Harris supporters are even more confident that state and local election officials will “do a good job” this year. About 91% of Harris voters trust their state leaders, and nearly a full 97% trust their local officials.

The survey was conducted from September 30 to October 6.

Polls over the years have shown that voters trust their local officials much more than they trust national politicians. A new Pew poll matches this story, but is still notable because toxic climate Trump contributed to this, and most Republicans still believe the 2020 election was fraudulent.

Despite widespread confidence in their work from both parties, threats against election officials reinforced since Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election. This year, election commissions received suspicious packages which led to the evacuation, and the Department of Justice filed a steady stream of fees against People who sent death threats officials.

CNN’s Mailie de Puy Camp, Casey Tolan and Tierney Snead contributed to this report.

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