• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. turnout>

Why local election administrators are key to ensuring all voters may participate in democracy

Adrian Fontes
April 06, 2020
Maricopa Country, Ariz., recorder Adrian Fontes

Maricopa County, Ariz., saw voter turnout increase by 42 percent from 2014 to 2018, thanks at least in part to reforms put in place by the elections chief, Adrian Fontes.

farm4.staticflickr.com

Fontes, a Democrat, was first elected in 2016 as the Maricopa County recorder, the chief elections official for Arizona's most populous county.

Due to the coronavirus, many states that have held their presidential primaries on schedule this year experienced a decrease in turnout, chaos and confusion. As we know, the integrity and inclusiveness of our elections depends on a well-run election system — which is exactly why Maricopa County saw an increase in turnout when Arizonans cast their ballots three weeks ago.

On every Election Day, Americans eagerly tune into the news the moment the polls close, expecting decisive conclusions about the future of their country. But these flashy headlines don't often capture the rubber-meets-road work of democracy unfolding on the ground: the science of election administration.

As the head election official for Phoenix and its closest suburbs, I know this better than most. Reading the news makes elections seem simple. However, in a nation as huge and diverse as ours, administering these contests is incredibly complicated. And as we've seen so far this year — from the long Super Tuesday voting lines in Texas and California to the muddled caucus results in Iowa — each jurisdiction faces unique challenges.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

That's where election administrators come in.


Sometimes called county recorders, we oversee the nitty-gritty of the election process. They are responsible for ensuring that people are registered to vote and that infrastructure is set up so that, come Election Day, people are able to vote with ease and their votes are properly counted.

Unfortunately, some have instead used their power and position to stop voters from casting ballots. This can be seen in the purges of the Georgia voting rolls by Brian Kemp when he was both secretary of state and the GOP candidate for governor in 2018, and by North Carolina's recent attempt to disenfranchise many in poor and minority communities through a restrictive voter ID law.

Compared with states such as Maine and California, which have gone to great lengths to protect the right to vote, it's clear a person's right and ability to vote can be determined by ZIP code.

Four years ago, I inherited a deeply flawed election system — like too many around the country. After 30 years of mismanagement by my predecessors, the very groups of people most urgently in need of representation in our democracy were often the same ones who couldn't access the ballot box. They need and deserve a seat at the table but have had their voices silenced.

I sought to turn our system around by putting voter outreach and accessibility at the core of our mission. After a series of "community roundtables," we've sought to make impactful changes based on what we learned. We improved poll worker training and sought to make our elections more accessible. We optimized our voting machines to make them more user friendly — not a mass of confusing fine print or flashy, colorful displays. We strengthened no-excuse absentee voting, allowing voting by mail without restriction until Election Day.

We're immensely proud of the strides we've taken to count everyone's vote. And the numbers back us up: We saw a 42 percent turnout increase between the 2014 and 2018 midterms.

To be sure, though, there is always more that we — and other counties across the country — can do to bring more people in.

My team recently proposed shifting entirely to voting by mail, but unfortunately we were turned down. Additionally, we should push for automatic voter registration and same-day registration and oppose overly restrictive voter ID laws and arbitrary voter roll purges. We should support independent redistricting measures that will end partisan gerrymandering. Many of these important reforms are included in HR 1, the For the People Act, which passed the House a year ago but remains stalled in the Senate.

But in order for us to keep improving, the federal government must provide the money for election administrators to do their jobs well. For starters, Congress should fully fund the Election Assistance Commission, the regulatory body that issues accessibility guidelines and approves secure voting machines. It should also provide states robust funding for election security efforts, like upgrading outdated or inaccessible voting equipment. Further, it should increase resources for training registration administrators and other poll workers like the Certified Elections Registration Administrator program so that all election officials are fully equipped to run a smooth process.

Ultimately, elections are about people. They are about giving each of our citizens a path to making themselves heard. It's the job of elections administrators to make sure every voice in our democracy counts. In this time of uncertainty, it's more important than ever to make sure our election systems are well run, secure and can work to the best of their ability.

From Your Site Articles
  • Ariz. lawmaker wants to ban out-of-state money in elections - The ... ›
  • Chaos marks election say in Florida, Illinois and Arizona - The Fulcrum ›
  • Arizona 'ballot harvesting' ban will stay in effect for now - The Fulcrum ›
  • Arizona may get its own version of HR 1 - The Fulcrum ›
  • Iowa race poses new test for election integrity and Congress - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Arizona - Elections and Voting Information - Rock the Vote ›
  • Arizona Election Results 2018: Live Midterm Map by County ... ›
  • Elections | Arizona Secretary of State ›
turnout

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Joan Blades
John Gable
10h

What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

Daniel O. Jamison
10h

Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

J.H. Snider
30 January

Winning GOP strategy in 2024 – back to business with immigration reform

Neil Hare
30 January

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
27 January
Videos

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff

Video: We need more bipartisan commitment to democracy: Pennsylvania governor

Our Staff

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff

Video: Veterans for Political Innovation - Who we are

Our Staff

Video: Want to fight polarization? Take a vacation!

Our Staff

Video: Kevin McCarthy is Speaker, but he's got a tough job ahead

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January

Podcast: Deepening democracy in the states

Our Staff
27 January

Podcast: How the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack impacted politics

Our Staff
26 January

Podcast: Why we misunderstand independent voters

Our Staff
25 January
Recommended
Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Flame retardants in your earbuds? Toxic chemicals in homes? Left and right are sick of It.

Big Picture
What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

What can replace religion for peace of mind and shared moral values?

Big Picture
Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Congress
Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

Part IV: Reforming constitutional convention campaigns

State
Winning GOP strategy in 2024 – back to business with immigration reform

Winning GOP strategy in 2024 – back to business with immigration reform

Big Picture
Podcast: Separating news from noise

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Podcasts