It’s an unspoken rule that politics is just too personal – or just too polarizing – for polite conversation. However, the local election officials (LEOs) who keep America’s election system running cannot avoid conversations around politicized information. And a polarized political environment creates potentially hostile working conditions for election officials, making communicating with the public a daunting challenge.
In a recent survey by the Brennan Center, 38% of LEOs reported experiencing threats, harassment, or abuse, with more than half concerned about the safety of their colleagues and staff. This concern is understandable: election officials in Maine, Georgia, and Virginia, and even the head of the federal agency charged with election security have all recently faced swatting attacks that use law enforcement as a weapon of harassment. It’s no coincidence that in 2024, for the first time ever, the federal government’s Election Security Group will be keeping the identities of its civil servant co-chiefs private due to harassment.
LEOs don’t have the option to keep their identities private, as it is part of their job to interact with members of the public on a daily basis. For these and others in public-facing roles who encounter such hostility, it’s tempting to default to a “just the facts” approach to public communication. This can make for missed opportunities to connect with the public in ways that address and even diffuse hostility.
While dealing with conflict and mistrust may now just be part of the job for LEOs, ongoing communication that engages openly and empathetically with the public is still the long-term strategic smart move.
A new pilot launched by the Analysis and Response Toolkit for Trust (ARTT) project will offer practical support to public communicators such as LEOs on using these methods of providing reliable information around contentious, complicated topics. Throughout 2024, the ARTT-LEO pilot will provide LEOs in North Carolina with tools that can help continue the long-term process of building trust and reduce polarization by fostering less-divided and more constructive interactions with the public.
ARTT-LEO consists of two core components: a curriculum for public communicators, and a help desk for LEOs. Our curriculum turns ARTT’s extensive library of research about practical methods for conversations into training with exercises and examples LEOs can adapt to best meet the needs of their local community.
The “help desk” sessions will bring LEOs together to share knowledge and give each other support to discuss and consider the communication issues they face day-to-day during election season. During this process, we’re also exploring how our work to develop the ARTT Guide software can offer complementary opportunities for skills development that elections officials can use to better engage the citizens they serve.
While I can’t speak for our pilot participants, ARTT-LEO has already taught me more than I expected. For example, I’ve deepened my understanding and appreciation of how LEOs keep the American election system transparent, accountable, and secure through procedures such as ballot reconciliation, canvassing, and audits. To my surprise, I’ve also come to realize these processes – which aim to instill confidence or trust in the integrity of our elections – actually come from a healthy “productive mistrust” or questioning.
As many Americans (myself included) prepare for potentially difficult political conversations with friends and family this election year, I’ve sought to embrace this productive mistrust or uncertainty. Mistrust, too, underpins the security and credibility of our electoral processes, and is still worth respecting and discussing throughout a year that is testing trust in elections for billions around the globe.
At the same time, I’ve had to confront the reality that learning can have its limits: empathy, de-escalation, and other means of promoting trust in communication can't necessarily put an immediate stop to some of the most alarming threats LEOs face, or guarantee that they’ll receive the respect they deserve.
How can LEOs, even under fire, remain in conversation with the public at a time when communication is most needed? How can citizens get the answers to questions they seek in productive ways? These are urgent questions that we, as a society, need to address collectively.
As we ourselves seek answers with ARTT-LEO, we look forward to learning more about practical ways public communicators can nurture the foundations of trust, as LEOs continue their essential engagement with the communities they serve.
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