Newsletter: A visit with local election officials
A Note from the Executive Director
I was able to visit Michigan on its Presidential Primary Election Day recently. I love visiting voting sites, and I don’t get to do it as much as I used to. It is such a privilege to see poll workers and election officials, and thank them for their hard work, along with watching voters conveniently and safely exercising their most fundamental constitutional right.
I visited sites and election officials throughout the state, in Detroit, Flint, and in East Lansing, where I got to visit with East Lansing City Clerk Marie Wicks. Marie has been involved with elections for a long time, and is so devoted to this calling, that after retiring from her work with the state Bureau of Elections, she came out of retirement to serve as Clerk in East Lansing, and help train the next generation of election officials. There are public servants like Marie all over Michigan, and the nation – Democrats, Republicans, and others – and their service and dedication inspires me and makes me hopeful!
Sincerely,
David Becker
CEIR Executive Director
Webinar: The Expansion of Voting Before Election Day 2000-2024
Friday, March 22, 12 pm ET | Register
Please join CEIR for a webinar discussion on its latest report, “The Expansion of Voting Before Election Day 2000-2024.” NPR Correspondent Miles Park will join CEIR’s Executive Director David Becker and Research Director Chris Mann to discuss the findings of the report and answer attendee questions.
The research, which will be published on Tuesday, March 19, looks at the dramatic expansion of early in person and mail voting across all 50 states, noting national trends, as well as which states have led the effort to expand voting before election day, and which are falling behind.
What is the Election Official Legal Defense Network?
CEIR created Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN) in response to the new and acute crisis born out of the misinformation spread after the 2020 election. People who administer U.S. elections are being threatened legally, physically and financially, due to a new trend of radicalized election denialism.
EOLDN connects licensed, qualified pro bono attorneys and communications professionals with election officials who need advice or assistance.
Can and should we count ballots faster?
Our national elections are complex and enormous, with as many as 160 million ballots, each with multiple pages and multiple races. As a result, there have never been final results on a national election night, ever. At no point in American history did we snap our fingers, count our ballots, and know the results of every race, no matter how narrow, on election night, or even the following day. In every single state, it takes days or weeks to certify and confirm the results and to make them official.
You may have seen a race called by the news media on election night, or the next day. But when that happens, ballots are still being counted. The confirmed results are still days or weeks away.
So can we count ballots faster—and should we?
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