As Americans visit the polls today or reflect on their time there, they may want to consider the amount of human energy that has gone into ensuring election security. It isn't all about the brand or age of the machine that siphons ballots. "Local election administrators work under increasingly difficult circumstances, with dwindling resources and mounting challenges," reports Amal Ahmed of Southerly. "A survey of local election officials conducted by the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit election reform group, finds that just 2% of them say they have everything they need to do what’s required of them."
While investments in cybersecurity and machine updating are necessary, Ahmed writes that an equal threat to American elections is the overworked, underpaid election administrators. "U.S. elections are administered at the local level – each county, or even municipality, has its own rules, and its own officials to execute them. The work is not lucrative – some make as little as $20,000 annually with a national average of $50,000."
Election officials have to be adept: "The central challenge of their work is to find solutions to the multitudes of logistical hurdles presented to them so that neither access nor integrity is sacrificed. . . .
All of which requires methodical planning and creative problem-solving. But these people are under significant pressure," writes Ahmed.
Beyond work on days when votes are cast, election officials "have faced increased public records requests and more challenges to election results, including demands for recounts," writes Ahmed. "The combined stresses have reached a boiling point, with one in five of the nation’s local election officials likely to leave their jobs before 2024. They will take with them a wealth of experience that cannot be easily replaced."
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