Midterm elections bring national scrutiny to local clerks in previously safe states

Local election officials in states that were previously considered safe are facing the same intense public scrutiny once reserved for swing states. Tina Barton, who served as the city clerk for Rochester Hills, Michigan, explains that the difference lies in how mistakes are handled. In non-battleground areas, a human error is often dismissed by the press. In a competitive state, the same mistake can trigger accusations of conspiracy.

Barton experienced this shift directly in 2020. Her office sent an unofficial absentee vote file twice because the first transmission appeared to fail. The error did not change the final vote count and was corrected the next day. However, the Republican National Committee chairwoman accused her office of improperly favoring Democrats. Barton received numerous death threats, including a voicemail warning that she deserved a throat to the knife for defrauding the country of a real election.

More than five years later, officials in Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan are accustomed to this level of attention. This year, the spotlight is expanding. Because the races that will determine control of the U.S. House and Senate are distributed across the country, local leaders in Iowa, Alaska, New York, and Kansas may find themselves in the national news for the first time.

Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, has been preparing his members for this possibility. Texas has remained a reliable Republican state for nearly fifty years, resulting in fewer competitive federal elections and less pressure on local staff. The state’s Senate race could decide the balance of power in that chamber. The Republican nominee for the seat previously sought to help President Trump overturn his 2020 loss.

McGinn noted that many officials still believe major election controversies happen elsewhere. He tells his members they do not want to repeat the experience of Florida in 2000. He described the goal as ensuring that a local glitch does not become a national crisis.

Wendy Link, the supervisor of elections for Palm Beach County, Florida, reports that her office still receives threatening emails. She refers to them as love letters. Some messages claim her office will be arrested by an army or sent to Guantanamo Bay. Link says she does not find the emails enjoyable and believes they are intended to intimidate her, but she does not request a security detail. She notes that the overall threat environment is calmer than the period following the 2020 election.

Barton, now vice president of the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections, warns that controversy can find any state if a race is close. She cites issues like broken ballot equipment, jamming papers, or website outages as potential triggers. Researchers indicate that most false narratives stem from these real events, which are then amplified by influencers or politicians to imply intentional wrongdoing.

The Committee for Safe and Secure Elections doubled the number of trainings it led this year compared to 2024. This increase reflects new concerns regarding the Trump administration’s actions in elections and a wider definition of what constitutes a battleground state. Barton tells officials in competitive districts that they must be on their game.