Local election officials in Wisconsin have been put in an untenable situation. LEOs are being asked to administer an election in the midst of a global pandemic and while a statewide “stay at home” order has been issued by Governor Tony Evers.
For a period of time, it seemed like Wisconsin politicians were able to work together and navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is until an election occurred. While politicians continue to fight with one another from their home offices, 1,849 local election officials, thousands of volunteer poll workers, and millions of citizens are being forced to decide between their health and their right to vote.
Who are these dedicated civil servants who have been asked to shoulder the challenge of holding the first COVID-19 pandemic election? In partnership with the Democracy Fund, the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College has been surveying local election officials nationwide about their jobs, their career aspirations, and their opinions about election integrity and reform. We’d like to share a few of these findings to put a human face on Wisconsin’s “stewards of democracy.”
The most important thing to understand about Wisconsin elections is that they are conducted at the municipality level, but “municipality” includes over 1800 jurisdictions that vary in size from 22 registered voters in the Town of Kingston in Juneau County to 314,636 registered voters in the City of Milwaukee.
With over 1800 municipal clerks and 72 county clerks responsible for conducting elections, Wisconsin is notable for having perhaps the most decentralized system of election administration in the nation.
This means that there is dramatic variability in who runs elections in Wisconsin and the challenges they face in adapting to a fluid situation. On the one hand, while smaller jurisdictions serve a far smaller service population, these smaller jurisdictions are also much more likely to be staffed by a part-time clerk and without support staff. These are truly one-person operations.
This is clear in our surveys. 80% of the local officials in Wisconsin told us that elections-related work constitutes less than half of their workload. But as in almost all thing elections-related in the United States, the size of the jurisdiction matters. While 80% of the smallest jurisdictions have LEOs who spend less than half their time on elections-related work, nearly half of the larger (> 25,000) jurisdictions have LEOs who spend the majority (or all) of their time on elections.
Who are these officials? They are overwhelmingly female — 89% according to our surveys, which is 9 percentage points higher than than our national estimate of 79.8%. They are mainly over 50 — 73% according to our results, although this is actually a bit younger than the national average (77% of LEOs nationally are over 50).
Finally, they are experienced at their jobs–more than 70% have served 6 or more years, and just over 20% have served more than 21 years.
We asked local election officials nationwide about what we have called “voter-centric” election administration: their attitudes about voter outreach, education, accessibility, and turnout.
The story in Wisconsin is generally good–we found that the state’s LEOs strongly endorse the statement “I enjoy educating citizens about voting rules and procedures,” something that has to be a substantial challenge when political leaders are moving the goal posts every day!
Officials are far more divided on whether or not it is part of their job to encourage voter turnout.
This is not very different from the responses we found nationwide. Most LEOs that we have spoken to want to run safe, secure, and accessible elections, and many — including just under half of Wisconsin LEOs in our survey — strongly or somewhat agree that is is part of their job to encourage turnout. Yet a significant minority view turnout as something outside of their job description and often outside of their control.
This snapshot of Wisconsin’s local election officials provides nuance and context to the controversy surrounding today’s primary. Wisconsin’s LEOs have extensive experience running elections, and are committed to making sure that citizens have free and fair access to the ballot. At the same time, they are conducting an election in the glare of a national spotlight and during a global health crisis.
Only time will tell if sufficient support and resources were provided to 1800 municipalities around the state to allow them to fulfill their role as stewards of democracy in the midst of a pandemic.
Local election officials in Wisconsin have been put in an untenable situation. LEOs are being asked to administer an election in the midst of a global pandemic and while a statewide “stay at home” order has been issued by Governor Tony Evers.
For a period of time, it seemed like Wisconsin politicians were able to work together and navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. That is until an election occurred. While politicians continue to fight with one another from their home offices, 1,849 local election officials, thousands of volunteer poll workers, and millions of citizens are being forced to decide between their health and their right to vote.
Who are these dedicated civil servants who have been asked to shoulder the challenge of holding the first COVID-19 pandemic election? In partnership with the Democracy Fund, the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College has been surveying local election officials nationwide about their jobs, their career aspirations, and their opinions about election integrity and reform. We’d like to share a few of these findings to put a human face on Wisconsin’s “stewards of democracy.”
The most important thing to understand about Wisconsin elections is that they are conducted at the municipality level, but “municipality” includes over 1800 jurisdictions that vary in size from 22 registered voters in the Town of Kingston in Juneau County to 314,636 registered voters in the City of Milwaukee.
As the collaborators in the State Elections Landscape Project write:
This means that there is dramatic variability in who runs elections in Wisconsin and the challenges they face in adapting to a fluid situation. On the one hand, while smaller jurisdictions serve a far smaller service population, these smaller jurisdictions are also much more likely to be staffed by a part-time clerk and without support staff. These are truly one-person operations.
This is clear in our surveys. 80% of the local officials in Wisconsin told us that elections-related work constitutes less than half of their workload.
But as in almost all thing elections-related in the United States, the size of the jurisdiction matters. While 80% of the smallest jurisdictions have LEOs who spend less than half their time on elections-related work, nearly half of the larger (> 25,000) jurisdictions have LEOs who spend the majority (or all) of their time on elections.
Who are these officials? They are overwhelmingly female — 89% according to our surveys, which is 9 percentage points higher than than our national estimate of 79.8%. They are mainly over 50 — 73% according to our results, although this is actually a bit younger than the national average (77% of LEOs nationally are over 50).
Finally, they are experienced at their jobs–more than 70% have served 6 or more years, and just over 20% have served more than 21 years.
We asked local election officials nationwide about what we have called “voter-centric” election administration: their attitudes about voter outreach, education, accessibility, and turnout.
The story in Wisconsin is generally good–we found that the state’s LEOs strongly endorse the statement “I enjoy educating citizens about voting rules and procedures,” something that has to be a substantial challenge when political leaders are moving the goal posts every day!
Officials are far more divided on whether or not it is part of their job to encourage voter turnout.
This is not very different from the responses we found nationwide. Most LEOs that we have spoken to want to run safe, secure, and accessible elections, and many — including just under half of Wisconsin LEOs in our survey — strongly or somewhat agree that is is part of their job to encourage turnout. Yet a significant minority view turnout as something outside of their job description and often outside of their control.
This snapshot of Wisconsin’s local election officials provides nuance and context to the controversy surrounding today’s primary. Wisconsin’s LEOs have extensive experience running elections, and are committed to making sure that citizens have free and fair access to the ballot. At the same time, they are conducting an election in the glare of a national spotlight and during a global health crisis.
Only time will tell if sufficient support and resources were provided to 1800 municipalities around the state to allow them to fulfill their role as stewards of democracy in the midst of a pandemic.