We are protecting Election Officials from harassment and abuse
/I am a former poll worker, election official, absentee ballot courier and I was honored to serve on the Dane County Election Security Review Committee.
I authored an Ordinance Amendment that passed tonight and makes it an offense to engage in disorderly conduct towards an election official in Dane County.
Our Election Officials do a tremendous job administering free and fair elections and ensuring everyone who is eligible to cast a vote can do so and have their vote counted. These changes will help protect them from harassment and intimidation while they are doing this important work.
Elections are vital to our democracy and those workers who administer and fairly run those elections are critical. We must protect elections workers and volunteers who are subject to harassment, verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, and potential physical threats. This ordinance amendment specifically protecting election workers and catches and corrects unruly behavior before it escalates and becomes potentially deadly.
I encourage everyone to read the full report of the Dane County Election Security Review Committee. Some facts from the report that I want to outline are:
A nationwide survey of election officials in 2021 found that “one in three election officials feel unsafe because of their job, and nearly one in five listed threats to their lives as a job-related concern.”
An investigation by Reuters found over 100 violent threats against election workers in 2020 including death threats here in Wisconsin.
These threats are serious enough that in July 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice created a task force to address threats to election workers.
Going forward, I will work to implement all of the recommendations of the committee. However, protecting our election officials is a good first step forward.