Speaker lists reasons for confidence in elections

Jan. 23—With the 2024 election cycle starting earlier this month in Iowa and today in New Hampshire, many across the country are thinking about voting.

And in the last few years, political division and mistrust of elections has grown, Foley Institute speaker Kim Wyman said Monday.

Wyman is the former Washington secretary of state and was first elected to the position in 2013. In 2021, she joined the Biden administration to work on cybersecurity and infrastructure security before becoming a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Wyman said a recent study by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 22% of Republicans have high confidence in the accuracy of elections versus 71% of Democrats. The statistics are related to a loss in trust in elections through political polarization, foreign influences and propaganda, she said.

"In addition to the loss of confidence, nationwide we have seen an increase in harassment and threats to poll workers, to election workers and elected officials," Wyman said. "It's been very challenging and very frustrating. What we've seen as a result is an exodus of elected officials."

The election program Wyman works in at the Bipartisan Policy Center focuses in part on how to keep elections resilient, attract new election officials and how to train them. In some states, Wyman said at least 50% of the election officials had left and others had around 75% of them running an election for the first time.

Even with the division, Wyman said she is hopeful for the upcoming elections. Over her career, Wyman said she is really proud of election officials coming into a continual improvement mindset.

Wyman said even with that mindset and the changes made across the country at the local level, mistakes are bound to happen.

"Just because someone messes up doesn't mean the election is rigged," Wyman said.

Elections are complicated in America, Wyman said. For example, King County voters in western Washington can see more issues, races and candidates on one odd-year general election ballot than a voter in London would see in their lifetime. Elections are complicated because of the sheer number of positions being elected and because states get to choose how they run their elections.

These differences Wyman said are used to cause distrust in the elections, even if the officials are following the laws set for them. The differences between the states' election processes, Wyman said, is a strength because there is no one person in charge of it all. Other strengths for the election system include transparency, voter registration and the checks and balances built into the system, she added.

"The results, of course, is you can have states that are neighbors that have vastly different laws and I think what we have seen, certainly in 2020 and the aftermath, is people that want to advance a narrative using these differences to their advantage," Wyman said.

Wyman said election officials and others should start with inspiring confidence at the local level before trying to build confidence in a larger system. Wyman said she was becoming frustrated with the "whataboutisms" and questioning the integrity of other states' elections.

"When someone is in the position I was — when that person says, 'Yeah things are great here but I don't know about those other guys,' it undermines the confidence of that whole room."

If election officials, even partisan ones, started talking about their neighbors in a positive light, Wyman said there would be a higher level of election confidence. Wyman suggests that elected officials, when talking about elections, can stress the bipartisanship of them and bring up the principles and foundation of elections.

"If you think about elections, it's a lot like running a bank," Wyman said. "You know they have all sorts of audits and checks and balances to make sure your money is protected and insured."

Bipartisanship is baked into elections, Wyman said. Polling locations have observers from both sides and have checks and balances in place to ensure fairness. Voter registration is also helpful for running smooth elections because they are used to plan each election.

"These are tough, challenging times and it's easy to get caught up in the doom and gloom, but know there are a lot of positive things we can work on," Wyman said.

The complete talk and others can be watched on the Foley Institute YouTube channel at bit.ly/48J0kKO.

Nelson can be reached at knelson@dnews.com.