A new national survey raises alarms from election administrators facing constant threats. Stress and attacks by political leaders on the voting system are top forces pushing them out of their jobs.

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Attacks on democracy in the U.S. have become common since the 2020 election, and the toll those attacks are taking on the election system is coming into focus this morning with some new data on the people who run elections. Miles Parks covers voting for NPR, and he joins us now. Hi, Miles.

MILES PARKS, BYLINE: Hey, good morning.

FADEL: Good morning. So tell us about this data and how it may be used.

PARKS: So this is really one of the first attempts at quantifying the experience of the people sort of on the frontline of democracy, the county election officials who actually make voting happen all over the country. The Brennan Center for Justice commissioned a poll of about 600 of these officials from all across the country. And the biggest takeaway here is that the 2020 election has taken a toll on these people to the point that 1 in 5 say it's unlikely they'll even be in their job come 2024, the 2024 presidential race. I talked to Larry Norden, who is the senior director of elections in government at the Brennan Center.

LARRY NORDEN: There's a crisis in election administration, and I think the poll shows me that election officials see it, too. They're concerned, and they're not getting the support that they need.

PARKS: This is something we've heard anecdotally over and over again in, you know, the 16 months since voting stopped in 2020, but this is some of the first data we actually have to back it up.

FADEL: We've heard former President Trump and many high-profile Republicans continue to make these false claims about the 2020 elections. Is that what's pushing these people out?

PARKS: It definitely plays a role. The poll found that, you know, of the people who say they're planning to leave the profession, the top two reasons why - No. 1, politicians lying about the American voting system and, two, that the job is too stressful, which probably ties back a little bit into point No. 1. You know, we also know that the increased polarization around voting, which obviously has been contributed to by former President Trump's rhetoric, has led to a big increase in threats of violence against election officials. I talked to Natalie Adona, who helps run elections in Nevada County, Calif. She told me she's constantly scared for her colleagues that somebody is going to get hurt one day.

NATALIE ADONA: I had to shut down our office lobby to in-person walkups because we had an incident where a door got slammed into one of my staff members. I now have a restraining order against that person.

PARKS: Almost a fifth of voting officials who were polled here say they've been threatened because of their job.

FADEL: So now this job feels dangerous for people. What happens if all these voting officials actually leave their jobs?

PARKS: Well, you know, to be clear, every election cycle there are people who retire, people who leave the profession. In Adona's case, for instance, her boss is retiring, and she's running to replace him. But there is this widespread fear that because of these newfound threats, this pressure, it will be harder to retain and replace talent in this profession, which could mean an influx of people who want these jobs only for partisan gain, to actually influence the results of the elections. Trump specifically has said outright he wants his supporters to be in charge of voting. And about half of the local election officials who were polled said they're worried that some incoming election officials in the future may believe his election lies.

FADEL: How does that get fixed?

PARKS: Well, election officials in this poll said two things. They want social media companies to do more to fight misinformation, and they want more money from the federal government to support them - cybersecurity, physical security - to make their jobs more sustainable.

FADEL: NPR's Miles Parks, thank you for your reporting.

PARKS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.