New program to help US local elections officials who face ‘death by 1,000 cuts’
Protection hub will offer legal assistance and technical help as officials report ongoing threats and harassment on their jobs
A new program will help local elections officials with legal assistance and technical needs that come along with increased threats to their work and their lives, especially during the heated 2024 election cycle.
The Public Rights Project’s election protection hub plans to reach more than 200 elections officials, targeting states with close races but open to local elections officials anywhere in the US. Their work will include legal representation for local officials, filing amicus briefs on behalf of elections officials in critical court cases, helping them respond to misinformation, elevating them as trusted resources for voters and standing up for local interests in battles against state legislatures. They also plan to fight against efforts to hand count ballots and litigate any challenges made by others to tabulation, as well as push back against frivolous public records requests that have hit some elections offices.
The nonprofit’s move comes as local elections officials report ongoing threats and harassment, often stemming from mis- and disinformation spread by politicians. A stream of elections officials have left their jobs after enduring years of these attacks on their jobs. Some have seen the threats against them result in criminal charges for those who called, emailed or posted online claiming they’d injure or kill people running elections.
Alongside these threats, elections officials are also seeing efforts by lawmakers and other elected officials in their states to alter the way they administer the vote, sometimes without taking into account the needs of the people who actually run elections on the ground.
