America’s “Stewards of Democracy”: Experienced In Their Jobs, But Turnover Is Greater In Smaller Jurisdictions
Some 8,000 local election officials guide elections across the United States. These local officials work to assure the safety, security, and legitimacy of our elections. These Stewards of Democracy are a critical group in our nation – yet they do not receive much attention.
In 2018, the Early Voting Information Center (EVIC) at Reed College, in partnership with the Democracy Fund, initiated an annual survey of local elections officials to learn more, and to share the perspectives of these public servants. This is the first in a series of posts sharing our 2019 results, reflecting on what we have learned in the first two years of our polling.
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In our last blog post we explored turnover among local election officials in the US. In this installment we turn to examine how the Stewards of Democracy are selected for their positions and how LEOs themselves think about selection methods. We hope our results can inform ongoing discussions about how we select the local and state officials who administer American elections.
Local election officials that administer elections across the United States may have run for office, been appointed, or been hired into their positions. Elections may have been partisan or non-partisan contests. As with so many features in American election administration, selection methods vary both across and within states.
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