🧵1. These are the words of Cathy Woolard, chair of the Fulton County (Ga) Board of Registration and Elections (BRE):
“ I am still working on my thoughts about the state of our democracy and elections in particular. For decades elections departments were the skeleton crew…
“ I am still working on my thoughts about the state of our democracy and elections in particular. For decades elections departments were the skeleton crew…
2. … of county governments that operated on razor thin budgets, under invested in staff, equipment and process improvements only to spring into action with temp staff and rented equipment in Election years. Until 2020.
3. Fast forward to today. We have gone through Redistricting of local, county, state and federal district lines and acquired state mandated expensive new large and heavy voting equipment with specific electrical and physical space requirements.
4. We have new and poorly written election laws allowing anyone to challenge the voter registration of any number of voters without limit, that distract staff and board members from the important work they need to do to properly prepare for elections.
5. Open records requests come in on a regular basis and require a full-time dedication of clerical as well as legal staff to manage. And then there are the rumors. All too often people, well-meaning or not, observe or hear something…
6. … that they don’t fully understand and decide to “launch an investigation” because they suspect foul play rather than consider they may not know enough about election procedures to make a snap judgment. Angry and dismissive confrontations are replacing polite discourse…
7. … and discouraging regular employees as well as temp staff. Let’s be clear. There are real challenges to our elections but all too often they are coming from so-called reformers or watchdogs who are determined to prove the system is broken.
8. Just this week, someone scanned a fake ballot at a voting location in another County. Our processes worked and the fake ballot was isolated and identified by the end of the day. The perpetrator hasn’t yet been identified but the pool of suspects is limited…
9. … and specific. And I hope this individual is arrested and charged in this very serious crime. Also this week, a pole watcher raised alarms and made accusations about alleged removal of equipment that would have resulted in a vote undercount.
10. This person called everyone who would listen and “lodged a complaint with the state Election Board”. Long story short, the poll watcher counted votes on just one of the two scanners and so came up with the wrong account on their own.
11. But not before a lot of angry accusations and confrontation with election workers.
I have learned in my short time as chair of the Ful Co BRE that things happen with almost a million registered voters; a short term election force of 3000 or more volunteer and temp staff;
I have learned in my short time as chair of the Ful Co BRE that things happen with almost a million registered voters; a short term election force of 3000 or more volunteer and temp staff;
12. 250 polling places in a county that is 70 miles from top to bottom with some of the worst traffic in the world. And the other thing I have learned is that there are redundancies and procedures that provide consistent guidance on what to do when the power goes out,…
13. … a machine brakes, a procedure isn’t followed as well as it should have been. And if we can isolate the problem like the fake ballot, we can fix the issue with traceable transparency. But it takes time to run the traps and ensure that any hiccup…
14. … gets fixed as quickly and strictly as possible.
The election staff are great people who follow the rules and are dedicated to providing all voters a good voting experience. I’d ask that the next time you hear about a “problem” at an election office…
The election staff are great people who follow the rules and are dedicated to providing all voters a good voting experience. I’d ask that the next time you hear about a “problem” at an election office…
15. … or a polling place that you wait a minute before jumping to conclusions or sharing your story to your 5000 “friends”. Make a plan to vote early. It helps reduce lines for those who must vote on Election Day. And while you’re there,…
16. … Thank your poll workers for protecting our democracy. They are citizens just like you and they are working long hours and enduring a lot of interactions with others that might not be respectful or pleasant.
17. You can make a difference in their day by being thoughtful, considerate and following directions. It’s the least we can do to protect our right to vote.”
#VOTE
#VOTE
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