California Election Workers Make Comeback After COVID and Conspiracy Claims

Between COVID-19 and election fraud conspiracy theories since 2020, it has been a tumultuous time for California’s election workers.

The state lost 15% of its election officials between the November 2020 election and July 2021, according to the California Voter Foundation, which documented incidents of threats, harassment and stress. While not all left due to safety concerns, more than half of California counties have a new registrar of voters since 2020, compared to a 17% turnover between 2016 and 2020.

Soon joining that list is Cathy Darling Allen, the registrar in Shasta County, where officials have faced intimidation and threats by some unhappy with election results. She announced in February that she is retiring in May due to health issues — and reducing stress is essential to recovery.

In November, tensions heightened when suspicious envelopes were sent to election offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Another arrived at Yuba County’s office in January and tested positive for fentanyl.

But ahead of Tuesday’s end of primary voting, elections officials in more than a dozen California counties say they’re in good shape for staffing permanent and temporary poll workers.

Kim Alexander, president of the California Voter Foundation, attributes the shift to the attitudes of both election workers and voters.

“People care very deeply about the right to vote and want to protect that,” she said.

“We’ve had over four years now of people hearing this false narrative about elections,” she added. And while elections aren’t perfect, “it doesn’t add up to widespread fraud, and I think people know that.”

Since 2020, county elections officials have taken several steps to strengthen the protection of workers — including safety protocols for possible fentanyl-laced envelopes — and to educate people that their vote is secure.

In Orange County, for example, the elections office works closely with local law enforcement and the health department to ensure the safety of election workers and voters, said Bob Page, the county’s registrar of voters.

The county has recruited about 1,600 people to work on elections — the result of a monthslong process that involves outreach efforts, background checks and training.

“We know it’s important to make sure we give people that work in the vote centers the tools to provide good customer service and try to help people who have concerns or may be a little disruptive when they come in,” he said. “Safety is something we’re going to keep paying attention to.”

Still, election security doesn’t seem to be the only motivating factor. Some counties that have opted into the Voter’s Choice Act, which extends in-person voting to 10 days, say shorter shifts and fewer locations make it easier to hire staff.

There’s also money: In San Bernardino County, funding to increase stipends for poll workers and to hire additional full-time staff has helped.

“The election cycle and election preparation is a very stressful environment, with a lot of work in a small amount of time,” said Stephanie Shea, the county’s registrar of voters. “We’ve been fortunate that the board has approved additional positions that have helped us with our preparation for our elections.”

For the November 2022 election, the county had about 2,300 poll workers. For this year’s primary, it recruited more than 2,500.

And a law to address the decision by Shasta County’s Board of Supervisors to cancel its contract with Dominion Voting Machines and require a hand count only decreased trust among some residents, Francescut said. The law, signed by the governor in October, limits hand-counting to only regular elections with less than 1,000 registered voters and special elections with fewer than 5,000 voters.

“This isn’t something that’s going away because the state Legislature’s changed the law,” Francescut said.

An elections commission in the county, with about 112,000 registered voters continues to push for hand-counting ballots. But on Tuesday, one of the supervisors who voted to get rid of the voting machines faces a recall election.

Francescut said she hopes that legislators might understand the different points of view in Shasta County so that they can work together to achieve their shared goal of getting people to vote.

She also said the best way to protect election officials is to provide them with resources and training, especially given the changes in the last few years: “These people have been through a lot of stress, a lot of trauma, just for doing their work.”

But she also had a reminder for voters: “We are, in fact, humans, and people that have families and children and live in this community. People tend to forget that.”