- Thessalia (Lia) Merivaki, PhD | Associate Teaching Professor, Georgetown University, McCourt School of Public Policy | Associate Research Professor, The Massive Data Institute, Georgetown University
- Mara Suttmann-Lea, PhD | Associate Professor of American Politics, Connecticut College
- Paul Gronke, PhD | Professor of Political Science, Reed College | Founder & Director, Elections & Voting Information Center
Local election officials (LEOs) play a key role in educating voters. But LEOs have to balance voter education with other competing needs and demands.
Results from the 2024 Elections & Voting Information (EVIC) Local Election Official Survey and ongoing research by Merivaki and Suttmann-Lea identify three important lessons for election practitioners, policymakers, and others in the democracy space:
- Across the board, LEOs say voter education is important and professionally fulfilling.
- LEOs who serve in medium-sized jurisdictions (5001 – 25,000 and 25,001 – 100,000 registered voters) are most likely to say that resource constraints limit their ability to educate voters.
- We think this is because medium-sized jurisdictions have too many voters to rely solely on face-to-face channels (like in the smallest jurisdictions), but have insufficient staff and resources to manage multiple communication channels (like in the largest jurisdictions).
The policy solution is to right-size funding and resources for election offices, paying particular close attention to the medium-sized jurisdictions that face the greatest challenges.
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By Yuguo Liao, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Administration, University of Missouri-St. Louis and David C. Kimball, PhD, Professor of Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis (SPECIAL FOR ELECTIONLINEWEEKLY)
Local election officials (LEOs) are vital to maintaining trust and efficiency in the democratic process. However, turnover intentions among LEOs are concerningly high, with environmental challenges like resource scarcity and safety concerns significantly influencing decisions to leave their positions.
In the work our University of Missouri-St. Louis team conducted in conjunction with the Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) and EVIC’s principal researchers Paul Gronke, PhD, (Reed College) and Paul Manson, PhD, (Center for Public Service at Portland State University), we studied resource scarcity and safety concerns and their impact on LEOs’ decisions about leaving their positions. The EVIC team helped facilitate our work by integrating some of our research questions into their 2024 EVIC Local Election Official Survey.
With regard to resource scarcity, our research has shown that limited funding affects nearly 30% of all LEOs of all sized jurisdictions, rising to over 40% in mid-sized jurisdictions, leading to work exhaustion and decreased job satisfaction.
In looking at LEO safety concerns, we found that more than 65% of LEOs report facing verbal or online harassment, and 30% have experienced direct threats.
In the face of these ongoing challenges, we wanted to understand: (1) how workplace conditions (resources and safety) influence LEOs’ turnover decisions, focusing on job satisfaction as the underlying mechanism, and (2) why some LEOs remain despite challenges, examining how psychological empowerment and public service motivation shape the impact of these challenges on LEOs’ job satisfaction and, ultimately, their turnover intentions.
Our findings show the following:
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By Shelley Kimball, PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Election officials in local offices across the country have experienced a surge in public records requests in recent years, and some of them are perceived as vexatious, unduly burdensome, frustrating, voluminous, overwhelming, or harassing. While requests for information are fundamental to government transparency, unduly burdensome requests are straining the limited resources of election officials.
Results from the 2024 Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) Local Election Official (LEO) Survey show that while election officials recognize the increasing burden of excessive requests, their preferred solutions emphasize transparency, openness, and the use of technology rather than punitive measures.
In the following paragraphs, we outline the issue, examine LEOs’ perspectives, and recommend actionable solutions that balance public access to information with the operational needs of local election offices.
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EVIC’s new report highlights the challenges and successes facing America’s election officials
(EVIC PRESS RELEASE) Portland, OR— February 6, 2025 — Today, the Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) announced immediate availability of “Today’s Election Administration Landscape: Findings from the 2024 EVIC Local Election Official Survey” on the 2024 EVIC LEO Survey section of organization’s website at evic.reed.edu.
Local Election Officials (LEOs) are “stewards of democracy,” positioned at the frontline of elections in the United States. They ensure fair, free, accessible, and secure elections. The annual EVIC Local Election Official (LEO) Survey captures the challenges and successes facing election officials each year. In 2024, EVIC heard from over 650 LEOs nationwide.
“LEOs continue to manage the new obstacles that come with each election,” said report co-author Paul Manson, PhD, EVIC Research Director and Research Assistant Professor at the Center for Public Service at Portland State University. “They have endured challenges from political forces, local finance and budget changes, and shifting state election policy – and as stewards of democracy, they continue to serve voters with dedication.”
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Local Election Officials (LEOs) are “stewards of democracy,” positioned at the frontline of
elections in the United States. They ensure fair, free, accessible, and secure elections. The annual
Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) Local Election Official (LEO) Survey captures the
challenges and successes facing election officials each year. In 2024, we heard from over 650 LEOs
nationwide.
LEOs continue to manage the new obstacles that come with each election. They have endured
challenges from political forces, local finance and budget changes, and shifting state election
policy. As stewards of democracy, they continue to serve voters with dedication. However, we are
concerned that ongoing stressors will result in accelerated departures from election offices. Hiring
difficulties also suggest that these pressures are not limited to the chief local election official and
create challenges at all levels of election offices.
The 2024 election administration experience was relatively uneventful compared to past elections.
While the election results were rapid and clear, we share a note of caution.
- Since 2020, key measures indicate that job stress remains high.
- Job satisfaction has fallen and is not recovering.
- The number of reported retirement plans remains high, and LEOs continue to share experiencing threats and harassment.
- Full-time hiring has become more difficult.
- Localities report highly diverse revenue sources for funding operations.
The report closes with a review of LEOs’ perspectives on the performance of US elections and their role in voter education and engagement.
Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) Research Director Paul Manson, PhD, presented at the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) winter conference in Washington, DC on February 3, 2025.
Paul’s presentation featured a preview of the forthcoming 2024 EVIC Local Election Official (LEO) Survey report, focused on LEO job satisfaction, hiring challenges, and the diverse funding models used across local election jurisdictions.
I am thankful for the opportunity to present our 2024 survey results to election leaders from across the United States at the NASED conference. I hope these results can support them in their critical work at the state and local levels.
In a previous post we dove into the initial election results from Portland’s Ranked Choice Voting elections. Each night the Multnomah County Elections office is updating their RCV election results page dand we will update visualizations here.
Things to Keep an Eye Out For
We don’t know how the remaining 130,000 ballots (as of 7:00am on November 7) will change results. They are being processed in the order they were received, and so we are unsure if there is a geographic or any other pattern. But here are the things we are looking out for:
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Updates on results will be posted here nightly!
Tonight Portland voters will learn a lot about the new voting system adopted as a part of charter reform. The Mayor, Auditor, and Council will all be selected with ranked preferences form voters. The Council is the unique story here as three winners will be selected from these rankings in each of the four new districts.
We are sharing some initial analyses here to explore the patterns from these elections. But first an important note: These are just preliminary results. The Multnomah County Elections Division is releasing full tabulations each evening. For the next few days ballots will continue to be returned to the County, resulting in updates that may change these results. This is a disclaimer one should remember when also reviewing national returns in general! With that note, lets see what the voters have shared so far.
