Nearly half of election officials expressed concerns that politically motivated investigations could undermine election security, according to a new survey.
The Brennan Center for Justice found 46 percent of local election officials said they were at least somewhat concerned about politically motivated investigations of their work or the work of others, and 18 percent of them said they were "very concerned" about that possibility, reported Politico.
“If you had told me a few years ago that 46 percent of election officials would be concerned about a politically motivated investigation, I would have been shocked,” said Lawrence Norden, vice president of the elections and government program at the liberal-leaning think tank. “Having nearly half of election officials say that that’s a concern to them is shocking in a democracy.”
Election officials have been heavily scrutinized since Trump and his allies blasted out conspiracy theories about his 2020 election loss, and the right-wing Project 2025 blueprint calls for investigating and prosecuting election officials, and the Brennan Center survey found 17 percent of election officials said they were at least somewhat concerned they would face pressure to certify election results to favor a specific candidate or party.
“If you want a free and fair election — almost one in five election officials say we’re concerned that there’ll be interference in the certification process,” Norden said. “That, to me, is a scary number.”
That 17-percent figure is up from 12 percent who reported similar concerns in a survey conducted last year.
The survey also found 36 percent of local election officials reported being harassed or abused because of their job, and 16 percent of them said they faced threats of violence due to that work, and 52 percent said they were at least somewhat concerned about the safety of their election staffers.