Tammy Patrick, is the Chief Program Officer at the Election Center, the National Association of Election Officials. Patrick has been working in the election administration space since 2003. Here’s an excerpt from her piece today for the NYU Democracy’s Project Election Series:

Elections are administered at the state and local level. Roughly half of the local officials are themselves elected; the other half are appointed or hired. In some states, the work is consolidated into a single office, like in Florida, where Supervisors of Elections handle all election functions.  Other states, like Alabama, divide the administration across a handful of agencies; the board of registrars handles voter registration, circuit clerks oversee absentee/vote by mail, and probate judges administer in-person voting, tabulation, and the canvass.  Given the distribution of election responsibilities across local government, it is clear why 34% of our election offices do not have a full-time election administrator — most often they serve their communities in many other ways in addition to their election duties. The number of local offices may range from as few as fifteen, such as in Arizona, where administration is done at the county level, to states like Michigan or Wisconsin with hundreds of local offices because administration is done at the municipal and township level. This patchwork of responsibilities accounts for 75% of our election offices serving just 8% of the nation’s voters, while 8% of the offices, our large urban centers, serve 75% of the electorate.  This state-specific structure has evolved over the last 250 years with lateral local oversight by bipartisan officials in different roles, transparent processes open to observation by the public and press, and vertical oversight by the state’s designated chief election authority and the courts….

Concerns over undue influence in our elections are one reason the process is transparent and has multiple layers of oversight and verification.  This election will be different in that there are a number of officials who have run and been elected on the notion that the 2020 election was stolen.  These individuals, who deny the legitimacy of that election, are now in positions of authority.  For some, being in office and learning about the safeguards and measures taken to secure the process has been illuminating and humbling.  Others continue to espouse conspiracy theories.

For 250 years our institutions have held because of the dedication and efforts of individuals who take their oaths of office seriously — regardless of the latest obstacle, the newest twist in the plot.  The election professionals who have devoted their careers to ensuring that eligible voters have unencumbered access to the ballot box remain steadfast and voters should have confidence in exercising their right to vote.