Election Officials are Democracy Superheroes

Issue One invites you to become an armchair expert on How Elections Work this election season and educate others within your circle. By being engaged citizens and thoughtful community members, we can all help create a better working environment for our election professionals and allow all Americans to cast their vote safely and securely. This fall, let’s reject division and fear and choose people over politics. Pledge to support the professionals (aka, democracy superheroes!) who are not just working overtime this month, but work around the clock throughout the year to ensure that America’s democracy remains the best in the world. 

An election is often the largest community-wide event of the year. It’s held at numerous locations and involves the coordination of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of temporary employees and volunteers. Those civil servants must conduct the event in compliance with complex, confusing statutes that sometimes change at the last minute. During these 12-14 hour democracy events, workers:

• Ensure that every vote is documented and every ballot is counted accurately.

• Navigate complex laws with accuracy and empathy in order to ensure eligible voters are provided the correct information. 

• Assist with and collect legal paperwork like voter registration applications and provisional ballot forms, ensuring all laws are followed and paperwork is accurate.

• Document chain of custody procedures and complete detailed paperwork relating to all voting events of the day.

The manager of each site is not only juggling the operations and voters, but also the dynamics of the team that they likely just met before dawn that morning. Take this pressure cooker of a stressful day and then add another layer: public skepticism and criticism, often not supported by any evidence, where the slightest human error can become a conspiracy theory that will live on for years. So how does one ensure that polling places operate efficiently with excellent customer service, ballots are counted accurately and transparently, and poll workers and temporary employees return season after season? It requires constant education, skill development, and process improvement around the clock, throughout the year. 

Election administrators must master a variety of skills that require them to possess versatility and endurance. They must be ADA experts, as accessibility is considered throughout election administration, from polling place selection to the audio programming of ballot marking devices, to ensuring that braille ballots are ordered and available. Contingency planning and emergency response is critical to operations and requires developing relationships across numerous government sectors. Administrators must be master workforce recruiters, trainers, and human resource managers in order to onboard a temporary workforce that surges very quickly and allows no time for acclimation or error. Transportation planning, logistics, and inventory management are required in order to store, test, pack, and deploy enormous amounts of equipment, supplies, and furniture to polling places. Administrators must have a working knowledge of cybersecurity and physical security threats, as well as master the technology of the election equipment, voter database, elections website, and other software used to manage the projects and logistical operations.  

Public relations, public speaking, graphic design, social media management, and copywriting creep into various areas – the creation of training materials and voter education resources, creating and installing polling place signage, providing quality training for learners of various backgrounds, giving media interviews and presentations to civic organizations, and ensuring the department’s website is current and accurate. All of this work must be funded, which requires accounting, budgeting, lobbying, and, at times, fundraising and grant writing skills. All of these are skills that must be developed in addition to being fluent in election laws and procedures.  

But wait – that’s not all! Elections are not most officials' only job responsibility. Clerks often serve as the community’s recorder, treasurer, licensing office, records custodian, or record-keeper for all meetings of the elected body and its committees. 

As you prepare to cast your vote this election season, you can be proud that our democracy is fair, free, and reliable because it is run by professionals. Pledge your support for these election superheroes and vote with confidence this November.

Claire Woodall is a senior advisor at Issue One and has over a decade of election administration experience, including serving as the City of Milwaukee Election Commission’s executive director from 2020-2024.

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