WASHINGTON, D.C. – Just like the 2020 election, we can expect this upcoming election to be another Biden-Trump matchup. Before voters head to the polls, election officials are looking into how they can reassure the public the election is safe and secure.
We spoke with officials at an event held by The Election Center. They’re a group that aims to improve voter registration and how elections are administered. At this event, we heard from both Republican and Democrat election officials and researchers. They discussed things like what local officials can do to make sure the 2024 election goes without any hiccups.
Election officials we spoke to said the bottom line is ensuring that election administration is given the attention that it deserves: funding to administer elections, enacting state laws to help poll workers and make elections more efficient, improving election security and voter access.
2020 was a unique election itself. We were right in the middle of the pandemic. Many people used mail in ballots as their way to cast their vote rather than the traditional way of voting in person. One of the big focuses was on transparency and making sure the right information is getting out there.
“Well, there is a lot of mistrust in our elections and frankly, you know, this is personal,” said Arizona Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes. “It comes from people really paying a lot of attention to nonsense. And I think if we pay more attention to the honest folks who have been running our elections for years and years and years we would have a lot more trust. So I’m hoping to focus on the election strategy and the good people who are basically our neighbors that run elections across the country.”
Having enough poll workers and experienced election officials will be a challenge this year. There’s a big election worker shortage. As we saw from the 2020 election, poll workers and officials, many of whom are volunteers, were targeted and threatened. But as we heard from officials, protecting poll workers is a top priority. According to the Brennan Center, nearly one in three local election officials know at least one election worker who has left the job due to safety concerns, increased threats or intimidation.
