Nearly Two-Thirds Of Election Officials Worry Politicians Will Interfere With Their Work: Poll

Most local election officials fear for their colleagues’ safety and 62%, almost two-thirds, are concerned about politicians trying to interfere in how they or others do their work, according to a new poll conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice and released Wednesday.

The poll, to which HuffPost was given early access, was based on the responses of 928 local election officials between Feb. 23 and March 28 this year and showed they have pervasive concerns about safety and political independence. Sixty-two percent of officials said they were either very or somewhat worried about “political leaders engaging in efforts to interfere with how you or your fellow election officials around the country do their jobs,” according to the poll. Thirteen percent were concerned they would face “pressure to certify election results in favor of a specific candidate or party.”

As HuffPost has reported, election offices across the country have taken action to increase election security since 2020, when Donald Trump’s lies about the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s election inspired a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol and multiple attempts to overturn the results.

Perhaps most notably, the poll found election workers faced shocking rates of threats, harassment and abuse.

More than one in three respondents said they had been harassed and abused because of their work as a local election official, and 16% said they had been threatened. Of those that had faced threats, 61% said they had been threatened over the phone, and the same number had been threatened in person.

What’s more, 70% felt that the level of threats had increased since 2020, 54% said they were either very or somewhat concerned about the safety of their colleagues or staff, and