This story was originally published by The 19th.
Tate Fall has only been the top elections administrator in her Atlanta suburb for a few months, but she is already hyper aware of safety.
As the new director of elections in Cobb County, Georgia, Fall trains poll workers on how to deescalate situations that might arise when they’re interacting with the public. She grapples with difficult questions from some of those she’s recruiting to work the 2024 general election: Should they receive active shooter training? Is there a continued threat of receiving letters laced with fentanyl?
At the end of every work day, Fall checks her car’s rearview mirror to make sure she’s not being followed home. When she goes to the supermarket, she finds herself checking for exits.
“Whenever I meet someone new, I never tell them what I do right away. I just say, ‘Oh, I work for Cobb County. What do you do?’ and I try to change the subject,” Fall said. “Because you just never know. You never know what people are going to think, or what they’re going to say, or what they’re going to do.”
Nearly four years since former President Donald Trump began to spread debunked conspiracy theories about voting fraud that persist to this day, the experiences of officials like Fall remain an important barometer of the health of America’s elections. The predominantly women-led workforce is preparing for another consequential November even as they experience harassment and threats of political violence. That includes trying to combat disinformation and the potential impact of artificial intelligence on how it’s created and shared.
They’re also facing the highest rate of turnover of top full-time election jobs in years, according to new data.
Still, roughly seven months before voters cast a ballot, this workforce is cautiously optimistic that they can meet the moment, according to interviews with administrators around the country. But they’re calling for more sustainable government funding that would help them do their jobs better — and legislative policies that prioritize their safety.
“Our election officials across the country are excellent and really committed to this work,” said Shenna Bellows, the secretary of state in Maine. “It’s devastating that I have to train our local election clerks in threat analysis and reporting and de-escalation. But that’s the new reality.”
Bellows has felt this reality up close. At the start of the new year, she was doxxed — meaning her home address and private cell phone number were shared online. Then her home was swatted — meaning someone reported a fake crime to trigger a large law enforcement response.
Both came shortly after she announced, citing the Constitution and in response to voter challenges, that she would remove Trump from the state’s........