Why are election officials quitting across the country?

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There is no shortage of job openings for local election officials in Michigan. It’s the same in Pennsylvania. Wisconsin, too.

After facing threats and intimidation during the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath, and now the potential of new punishments in certain states, county officials who run elections are quitting or retiring early. The once quiet job of election administration has become a political minefield thanks to the baseless claims of widespread fraud that continue to be pushed by many in the Republican Party.

The exits raise a pressing question: Who will take these jobs? Barb Byrum, clerk of Ingham County, Michigan, has an idea.

“These conspiracy theorists are in it for the long haul. They’re in it to completely crumble our republic, and they’re looking at these election administrator positions,” said Byrum, a Democrat. “They’re playing the long game.”

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About a third of Pennsylvania’s county election officials have left in the last year and a half, according to a spokesman for the state’s county commissioners association, who cited heavy workloads and rampant misinformation related to voting among the reasons.

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A new law in Iowa imposes a $10,000 fine on election administrators for a technical infraction of election rules. A similar law in Florida could lead to $25,000 fines for election supervisors if a ballot drop box is accessible outside early voting hours or is left unsupervised.

Republicans in Texas have pushed a measure to make it a crime for local election officials to send voters unsolicited absentee ballot materials. Georgia’s new election law allows the GOP-dominated legislature to appoint a board that can replace a local election official.

Wendy Helgeson, president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association and clerk of the village of Greenville, said the new penalties, coupled with the charged atmosphere around election work, could make the job unpalatable to some.

“It’s hard to convince someone it’s a good way to give back to the community when you’re afraid of going to clerk jail,” she said. “It’s harder and harder to get people to work in government as a whole.”

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