This Time, Few Complaints If Any Around Election Management

Tuesday’s elections saw near-record turnout. Nonetheless, despite the controversies that surround voting and election administration in this era, the voting process was smooth for millions of people across the country.

This outcome was the result of years of work, a multifaceted response to distrust and harassment of election officials that reached unprecedented levels during the 2020 election and have been kept alive since then by repeated claims that the contest had been “stolen.”

“This election was stress tested like never before,” says Carah Ong Whaley, director of election protection at Issue One, a bipartisan group that promotes sound election management. “It held strong because of the dedication, professionalism and resilience of election officials and their staff, and that is worth celebrating.”

In sharp contrast to 2020, election officials are not being attacked for their work. It’s possible that harassment and threats will subside. “I’ve seen gratitude being shown, even on my social media,” says Tina Barton, a longtime former election official who consults with her former counterparts. “There’s a newfound respect for what these election administrators do.”

Election Day arrived in a tangle of uncertainties. Donald Trump had continued his allegations of fraud, while warnings about potential violence on Election Day circulated among state and federal law enforcement departments. States recently battered by storms scrambled to find replacements for voting sites that had been washed away.

On Election Day itself, polling places in several battleground states received non-credible bomb threats, most attributed to Russian sources. The only real-world consequences were 30-minute evacuations at two Georgia voting sites.

There were also the usual small hiccups — a few scattered precincts running out of ink to print ballots and complaints about long lines on college campuses and elsewhere. Still, considering the prospects for disruption imagined or contemplated by various actors, the mechanics of this election were remarkably smooth.

"I led all the initiatives we had through the General Assembly to make sure lines were shorter than one hour,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Then, we added in the electronic poll pass which had them check in at 49 seconds.”

Planning and Preparation

Most of the work of election administration revolves around planning and preparation. The runup to this election included new elements to address new challenges. Over the past four years, election offices have devoted more time and effort to educating the public. They held more open houses, demonstrated equipment and explained their processes.

Misperceptions added fuel to 2020 conspiracy theories. Showing how the nuts and bolts really work can prevent routine activities from looking suspicious, Barton says.

Misinformation in recent times put a spotlight on the work of election officials, bringing new levels of harassment, threats and stress that hadn’t been part of their jobs before. But it also led to support. People were appalled by the things that were being said and done to election workers, Barton says. Civil society organizations, nonprofits, citizens and some in the media rallied to acknowledge the importance of the work and their professionalism.

“I think all of those efforts helped instill pride among election workers,” says Kevin Johnson, co-founder of the Election Reformers Network. “The response to 2020 helped solidify the sense of the nobility of the profession.”

Since 2020, many states have prohibited private funding of election administration, which had been crucial in the effort to keep voters safe during the pandemic. But other assistance from civil society organizations increased significantly, from civic education and community-based projects to strengthen trust in elections to mental health support and de-escalation training. Federal, state and local government entities provided training and materials that encompassed new risks from misinformation, cyber attacks and AI. Relationships with law enforcement also deepened.

Ready for Anything

The public was rattled for multiple reasons in 2020, says Justin Smith, the retired sheriff of Larimer County, Colo., who is now part of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections (CSSE). People were upset about COVID-19 restrictions. There were massive protests following the death of George Floyd at police hands. “From about mid-summer on, my staff came across people who were explosive upon contact,” Smith says. “Just a simple police contact turned into a violent confrontation.”

To help election offices be ready for disruption or violence at voting sites, CSSE members led training sessions where local law enforcement officers and election officials planned responses to emergencies at polls. Election officials also took crisis communications more seriously, and got better at them, Barton says.

CSSE developed state-specific pocket guides for officers that laid out what types of behavior around elections violated state law. Early on Election Day, a precinct clerk called Barton to tell her how excited he was to find law enforcement officers at the polling location with pocket guides in their hands.

Groups including the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs of America and the National Sheriffs’ Association worked directly with CSSE or along parallel lines. At the end of October, they issued a joint statement announcing they stood “ready and united” to ensure a secure and fair election.

A national Vet the Vote campaign, with partners including the NBA, the NFL and NASCAR, recruited veterans to serve as poll workers, underscoring the connection between election administration and service to country.

Smith believes that the arrest and conviction of individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, acted as a deterrent in 2024. It’s unknown at this point what will come from promises of pardons from Trump after he returns to the Oval Office, or how they might change the narrative around election interference.

Barton acknowledges that if the outcome of the presidential race had been different, storm clouds around the election might not have subsided so soon. And, as well as things went, election administration can always be improved. “We'll continue to support efforts for transparency and educating the public about how elections work, and encourage the public to get involved,” says Whaley, of Issue One.