I have cancer.
That
diagnosis came January 5 of this year, and I can’t type it any more plainly.
After a
routine process and colonoscopy, a cancerous tumor was discovered in my large
intestine. With surgery planned for this
week, indications from other testing is that the cancer hasn’t metastasized
into other organs in my body.
Hopefully,
the surgery will result in elimination of the cancer, but that won’t be known
until after surgery.
Working 18
years in election administration, I suppose, it was my time. I’ve written here before and often of the physical toll
elections take on the people who run them.
This blog
was created as a behind-the-scenes account of election administration. I would not be true to the intent of the blog
to not discuss this so directly and openly.
My
predecessor in Johnson County is a cancer survivor.
Both
assistant election commissioners at the Johnson County Election office when I
joined, both who had worked at the office for years, had new cancer diagnoses early
during my tenure.
One of
them eventually died while still serving as assistant election
commissioner. Another employee, promoted
to the same position, found he had lung cancer in the spring of 2014 and died
days before the November election. The
Sedgwick County Election Commissioner, who served at much of the same time as I
was in Johnson County, also had cancer.
Thing is,
with the talk of election officials facing abusive threats from election deniers,
there is no denying that the real threat to election officials is the constant
stress they feel when administering elections.
The personal threats add to that, of course, but that’s been going on since “Black Box
Voting,” a book and HBO special that called out specific election
administrators when, in my view, they were doing their jobs under the stress
that occurs with election administration.
The “naming names” of career election administrators, nearly universally
paid much less than their peers and colleagues in local government, was about
the lowest blow someone could take.
Election
administrators work at the expense of their own health to ensure the election
is administered as close to perfectly as humanly possible. There is no “close
enough for government work,” in elections.
The
Internet and social media have fueled that stress, and long-term election administrators
who have fought for resources often hear as a reason they are denied, “You’re
doing a great job.” Resources come after
a meltdown or a crisis, and election administrators aren’t going to let that
happen, even if the impact is their health.
Politicians,
members of Congress, and former presidential candidates have fanned flames that
cause more distress.
Recent
blog posts here have tried to stay out of politics, but the political environment for election administration is very simply destructive.
Al Gore
lost the 2000 presidential election and after what seemed like an excessive
protracted contest, he walked away. I
wasn’t in election administration at the time, but I know I felt that he had
created division in our country, and I wished he had exited sooner.
Now, after
the last two presidential elections, his behavior seems much more admirable, to
me at least. I have no idea what 2024
will bring in terms of the final presidential candidates or the political
factors leading to the election, but, Dear Reader, I think we all feel that the
outcome will be contested by the losing candidate and party supporters.
That’s the
backdrop local election officials will enter.
Many will decide to exit the profession this year because of that. Turnover always occurs more in an “off” year,
with experienced administrators leaving when they are needed most. They leave because they know what is coming.
Local and
state election official turnover nationwide is more than 30 percent
annually. We have some election offices
in North Dakota, for instance, where the chief election official changed
between the June and November elections in 2022, and even a couple cases where
the top post changed twice in that time.
Bench
strength in elections was lost long ago.
The need for Quick Start guides at the Election Assistance Commission,
as well as training and patience for those new in the profession, has never
been greater.
As an
aside, I often think of the Maricopa County (Arizona) Recorder Helen
Purcell, who lost in her primary in 2016.
Helen had decades of service and was well-respected among her
colleagues. Her term would end at the
end of 2016, voters had told her they wanted someone different in the role, and
she was left to administer an incredibly stressful 2016 presidential
election.
Imagine
losing the primary in the summer, not for a legislative position, but the
actual position of administering elections. Imagine the disappointment, yet also being expected to lead the administration of, up to that point, what was the most
stressful presidential election in anyone’s memory.
That’s
service right there.
She didn’t
quit. She probably should have. I’ve never talked with Helen about this, but
I have great admiration for her because of what she did in 2016. And, I’m not attempting to stir anything up
at all, but I do wonder if any of the storyline in Arizona, 2020 and beyond,
would have been different if voters would have renewed her service in 2016.
Unlike
Helen, many election administrators find their body quits on them before they
quit the profession.
That, at
least, is a piece of counter-point to the thought election administration leads
to cancer. Election administrators have
generally been in the profession for a long time, leading to a simple fact that
cancer arrives more frequently as people age.
When I
started in elections in 2005, I replaced someone many regard as one of the
greatest ever in the profession. At my swearing
in, I stated, “I’m coming to a position where the process is the star.”
Long-time election
administrators treat the election process as a piece of art, always polishing
or refining it. New election administrators
often are thrown into the job now without that existing process structure, or
the wisdom to know when to avoid the temptation that they know better than
those in the position before.
That’s the
new cancer in election administration—the turnover. There’s a new group of election administrators
lining up with 2024 being their first federal election, let alone their first
presidential election. For the profession’s
sake, we need a good number of them to still be leading elections heading in
2040, and that can only begin by providing resources, support, and protection
to lead today.