Hello,
I spend a lot of my day thinking about how to introduce voters to the men and women who work tirelessly to protect our democracy.
A recent report published by the Center for the Future of Arizona reveals a wide and serious gap in the public’s understanding of the role between voters and election workers and officials. Arizonans have lost confidence in their election administrators, with only 66% of those surveyed agreeing that they can trust their local elected official to ensure that elections are conducted fairly, accurately, and securely.
Our election administrators aren’t just employees, they are heroes, essential workers, and champions of democracy. We need these public servants to protect our rights, and they need us to protect them from threats and violence.
Arizonans agreed that protecting our officials from harm is one of the most essential elements of good electoral politics. And in Arizona, election officials have been threatened, shot at, and harassed in person and online. The mandate around elections is to create greater protections for our officials and increase funding.
Most worrying of all, 88% of those surveyed identified misinformation as a threat. When voters expect to be lied to, their faith in our system is eroded. As someone who personally works with election administrators and officials on a daily basis, my trust is affirmed by the competence exhibited by our public servants.
America has a lot of tough decisions ahead. We have fundamental problems trusting our elections and the officials who run them. We have deep distrust of what we hear about elections, especially when it comes from the president. But for those Americans who continue to support democracy, we have to acknowledge the shortcomings and confront them head-on. And that starts with making sure we choose competent, transparent, and trustworthy elected officials for office.
If you agree that our election officials and workers deserve the utmost respect and dignity, support our work to defend our election systems and the brave heroes who run them by chipping in now →
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Thanks for standing with us to protect our democracy.
Daniel Weiss
Director, Voting Rights Fund
