National effort launched to safeguard poll workers and voters
Excerpted from the Orange County Register
By Alicia Robinson
"With less than two months to the midterms and election signs and mailers already abundant, Orange County’s former registrar has launched a new national campaign to ensure the safety of election workers and voters in an increasingly volatile and partisan environment.
The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections – chaired by Neal Kelley, who retired in March, and supported by the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice – includes experts in law enforcement and election administration from around the country. Its short-term goal is to connect local law enforcement and election officials to address threats and violence against election workers and voters. Long-term, the group will look to recommend policies and legislation to address the problem more broadly.
Earlier this year, a Georgia election worker and her mother testified to Congress that they had to move to new homes and were afraid of being recognized in public after former President Donald Trump and his supporters accused them publicly of meddling with local election results.
A survey done this year by the Brennan Center found one in six election workers said they’ve personally received threats, and some election offices have reportedly installed surveillance cameras, hired private security and offered active shooter training after an influx of threats of violence.
“There was a collective feeling among a lot of election officials across the country that the threats were increasing, the agitation was increasing as we’re heading into (2022, 2024),” Kelley said. “Some elections officials don’t know what to do, don’t know how they’ll be protected.”
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State Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, considered safety of election workers enough of a problem that he wrote a bill to allow them to keep their home address private via existing state programs that protect law enforcement officials and domestic abuse survivors. The bill was later expanded to cover other public employees and is awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.
Election workers “have found themselves sort of caught in this vortex of partisanship and acrimony,” and sometimes have been subjected to threats and physical altercations, Newman said.
He cited a 2021 national poll of more than 230 election workers that found one in three of those surveyed “were concerned about feeling unsafe or being harassed” while doing their job.
Newman said a man called in during public comments in a committee hearing to oppose his bill and “said something like, ‘You can try to hide from us, but we have friends in the post office and we’re going to find you.’”
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan, who’s been an election administrator for more than 30 years, said his office works closely with law enforcement and encourages poll workers to speak up if they have any concerns.
Incidents like what happened to the Georgia poll workers are “extremely worrisome,” because they could discourage people from wanting to volunteer or take jobs running local elections, Logan said. “Does that also then filter down to increasing voter cynicism where people don’t want to participate in an election or they’re not comfortable going to a polling place?”
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Read the full article here.