Largely thanks to Donald Trump churning false hysteria about “stolen” elections, poll workers have experienced increased harassment and burnout in recent years. We already know working the polls during election season is fundamentally a labor of love. This is especially true for folks who were able to stay on during the COVID-19 pandemic. But harassment and threats against poll workers are not only scary: They’re also legitimately dangerous. They could also lead to fewer people wanting to take the risk, which could lead to fewer voting stations being open, which could lead to longer lines, which could lead to …. even more difficulty voting, if not fewer people voting outright. It’s a mess, and that’s before we even think about what poll workers in battleground states might face.
Luckily, leaders in at least some places are trying to protect poll workers. In a recent example, as reported by local outlet NBC 15, city leaders in Madison, Wisconsin, have proposed changing the penalty for people convicted of threatening election workers. This would involve increasing the fine for disorderly conduct against an election worker to up to $1,000 per offense.
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“By introducing these ordinance changes, the entire City of Madison, our police and our prosecutors are standing up and saying ‘enough,’” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway stated per the outlet. “We are going to do everything we can to protect our clerks and poll workers from threats of violence and harassment.” The mayor introduced the proposal along with Alder Patrick Heck, Vice President Jael Currie, and President Keith Furman.
According to local outlet Channel 3000, city attorney Michael Haas said the ordinance would ensure a more “effective tool” in stopping offensive behavior before it becomes “criminal.” What is considered a threat in this case versus free speech will come down to the disorderly conduct definition.
“The proposed ordinance would give us a more effective tool to catch offensive behavior and stop it before it becomes criminal,” said Haas.
"These are public servants that are just doing their job,” Haas added, per local outlet FOX 11, adding that it’s “unacceptable” to have them constantly dealing with “personal insults and threats.”
There’s considerable research to support the dire need for more protection for poll workers. It’s (obviously) the ethical thing to do, but this data is also important because it reinforces how pervasive the issues are. As covered by Reuters, for example, more than 850 such messages have been sent to election workers since 2020—and almost all of them used Trump’s falsehoods about the election being stolen. Per the outlet, more than 100 of these messages were bad enough to be considered “true threats,” meaning that they pass the federal guideline for criminal charges.
Threats included in this data were bad enough that the recipient could be reasonably afraid of bodily harm or even potential death. These particular threats included more than 40 workers plus their relatives in eight different states—all of which were battleground states.
As reported by my colleague Aysha Qamar, Washington state, Vermont, and Maine have all introduced legislation to better protect poll workers since the release of that report.
As referenced in the proposal, polling from the Brennan Center for Justice found that about one in six local election officials reported receiving threats because of their job. About three in 10 said they knew someone who left their role because of said harassment and threats.
Again: This is bad and scary for individuals, and for our democracy as a whole. And especially so when we remember there have been kidnapping threats against folks like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. And, obviously, the Jan. 6 insurrection. We need to do everything we can to combat voter suppression so people can actually vote and protect the people who keep these places open. It’s all connected, and it’s all a Republican effort to keep people silenced and afraid.