Protect poll workers to get a fair and free election

Time and again, the people of this nation have fought for democracy, for the ability of every legally empowered citizen to vote for those who will lead America into the future.

Yet the idea that the candidate with the most votes should win — the bedrock principle that undergirds democracy — is under attack. It's time for all those who believe in the so-called American experiment to stand tall once again.

Election officials across the country are running active shooter drills. They are installing panic buttons, electronic security measures, bulletproof glass and ballistic doors reinforced with steel. All of this is a warning that some people might try to win the presidential election by skullduggery or even force. Threats to election workers have reportedly increased by 73% since this time in 2022. Earlier this year, the Brennan Center for Justice reported that 38% of local election officials had been targeted by threats, harassment or abuse.

Last month, Kim Wyman, the senior election security adviser at the nation's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told CBS News she had received “Threats like 'We're going to hang you.' And 'I hope somebody puts a bullet in your head.' "

Here in Illinois, election officials are battling disinformation designed to "pit voters against each other," as one official told WBEZ's Tessa Weinberg recently. They're also adding security officers at some polls, and as a safety measure, election workers will no longer be required to have their names on ID badges. The FBI has warned of potential "election-related" violence in the coming election.

As Election Day approaches on Nov. 5, the wave of anti-democratic assaults is coming from every direction.

Lawsuits and ‘election integrity’

Flurries of lawsuits have been filed over voting rules and practices, more than half of them in seven states where the presidential race is closest, according to a Bloomberg News analysis, which found that the majority of the lawsuits have been filed by Republican or conservative interests.

An effort is also underway to gain partisan advantage by not counting late-arriving mail-in and absentee ballots because those votes are expected to lean Democratic.

In states where the vote is close, the repeat of 2020's so-called "red mirage" on Election Night might show former President Donald Trump ahead while large numbers of outstanding votes haven't been counted. Alarmingly, Trump has made anti-democratic threats against those working to preserve electoral accuracy when it goes against his interests, saying they will be prosecuted if he makes his way back to the White House.

There should be no place in this nation for any attempt to stop the counting of valid votes, prevent legitimate voters from casting ballots or intimidate voters and poll workers.

We've seen this play out before. Back in 2020, in just one example, people swarmed the TCF Center (since renamed Huntington Place) in downtown Detroit, shouting "stop the count" to try to get the Wayne County election workers inside to stop counting ballots, on the theory they could swing Michigan's electoral votes to Trump.

This year, the Republican National Committee is saying it will send slews of “poll watchers” into Democrat-majority cities, an effort that some experts are concerned might intimidate voters or disrupt the administration of elections. The RNC has also created an "election integrity team" with a senior counsel who has been charged in Arizona's case against more than a dozen people who tried to overturn the state's 2020 vote.

"Election integrity" should mean free and fair elections, not upending the vote. And while both political parties traditionally have poll watchers, those watchers should never try to stop the counting of votes.

Local and state election officials need support to ensure they can conduct elections properly. It would be better to err on the side of taking too many precautions than too many. The nation should not risk potential violence. As Jan 6, 2021, showed, America isn't immune to electoral violence, but we as a nation have to stand up to it.

In western North Carolina, a swing state, Republicans have joined Democrats to make it easier to vote after Hurricane Helene devastated so much of the election infrastructure in an area where voters are heavily Republican. That sort of cooperation should be replicated elsewhere, to support safe and secure voting in the rest of the nation, too.

It's imperative that voters and election officials be able to carry out their civic duty without being intimidated by threats, lawsuits and other efforts aimed at denying the voters' collective voice. It's also critically important no one ends up harmed just for doing their job: Ensuring our elections are free and fair.

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The Democracy Solutions Project is a collaboration among the Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ and the University of Chicago’s Center for Effective Government, with funding support from the Pulitzer Center. Our goal is to help listeners and readers engage with the democratic functions in their lives and cast an informed ballot in the November 2024 election.

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