The system can and does work, say Secretaries of State
During a virtual JFK Jr. Forum, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson discuss what election administrators around the country are doing to ensure access to the polls
With less than forty days until the November 3rd presidential election nearly half of Americans expect to have difficulties casting a ballot according to Pew Research. Concerns about election security and voter suppression were brewing long before COVID-19, but the pandemic has layered on new worries about health and safety at the polls, poll worker shortages, and the reliability of voting by mail.
On September 22nd, the Institute of Politics, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and Harvard Votes Challenge hosted a bipartisan discussion with two secretaries of state, to better understand the challenges facing voters this fall and what election administrators around the country are doing to ensure access to the polls. Jocelyn Benson HLS 2004, a Democrat and Michigan’s current secretary of state, was joined by Trey Grayson Harvard College 1994, a Republican and Kentucky secretary of state from 2004–2011.
While secretaries of state often find themselves in the middle of what is perhaps the most politically charged events, elections, their work, as Benson points out is to “ really to cut through that [hyper partisan] noise and rhetoric and deliver to citizens of all background and political affiliations the information they need to vote and know their votes are counted.” The principle charge of a Secretary of State, says Benson, “is to ensure that every vote is counted, and every voice is heard.”
To do this, states need to recruit and train an army of poll workers, “this year, the need to fill poll worker shortages has taken on a new sense of urgency with the pandemic creating real historic shortages of traditional election workers, people who may choose to opt-out this year due to the pandemic,” Benson said. In Michigan, her team has taken advantage of new interest in election work from unexpected corners. They formed a program in partnership with local sports organizations titled MVP that helped athletes become poll workers, “the most valuable players in our democracy,” according to Benson. While Michigan has now exceeded its goal to recruit over 200,000 new poll workers, other states and counties across the country are still far short of the number of workers election administrators estimate they will need this fall. To help, both Benson and Grayson are advising More than a Vote, an organization started by Lebron James that’s leading a national effort to recruit poll workers.
“I hope more people learn about these things so that they can have their faith restored that they’ve lost or bolstered if they have it.”
While Benson has partnered with sports teams, other starts are also looking at new ideas to ensure they will have sufficient resources in place on election day and before. “Innovation and creativity will make the election more successful than we would’ve thought six months ago,” noted Grayson. The former Kentucky secretary of state pointed to examples of businesses who are giving employees paid leave on election day to be poll workers and new requirements that allow some lawyers to earn continuing education credits by working the polls. He noted a campaign in Ohio where a beer distributor wrapped bottles and cans with special wrappers encouraging poll work.
Even with robust and well-staffed election administration on November 3rd, “election night will look different this year,” said Grayson. With more voters opting to vote by mail and vote early, we need to be mindful of how we interpret early election results. Depending on the state’s voting options, laws around counting votes before Election Day, and other variables, Grayson warned that early estimates may be misleading. “We as voters and citizens have to go into it [the election] with the right expectations and not lose faith in the system because we do not know on election night who is the winner,” he noted.
“It’s important for us not to declare a winner in every race until all the ballots are counted,” underscored Benson. “That’s how democracy works.”
And every ballot will be counted, even those cast by mail, said both Benson and Grayson emphatically. Responding to a question about the reliability of voting by mail, Benson described Michigan’s time-tested security signature match process. While she has full faith that the system is safe and secure, “That is part of the work this year that we as election administrators must engage in precipitously and proactively to ensure voters are assured that whoever they vote for their vote will count and the results of our elections will be accurate.”
“The system is going to work,” concluded Grayson. “I hope more people learn about these things so that they can have their faith restored that they’ve lost or bolstered if they have it.”
Written by Sarah Grucza, Ash Center Communications Manager
