Rural county elections staff face harassment, misinformation

[suegeo]

Last edited Tue Jul 30, 2024, 12:07 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.naco.org/news/rural-county-elections-staff-face-harassment-misinformation

The author of this article--Susan Kiepke--recently* resigned her post as Davison county auditor, due to security reasons. She has been running elections for about 17 years.

Says Ms. Kiepke

When I started administering elections, I was able to use schools for polling places. I am no longer able to do so due to security concerns.

I used to have more precincts with five poll workers at each precinct. I have cut down on precincts, polling places and now only have three poll workers at each precinct, primarily due to security concerns.

Security has become a major concern for election officials all over the country. There is so much misinformation and disinformation being generated and circulated these days that in my county of 20,000, I have asked our sheriff to be present at each commission meeting in 2024.

For the first time since running elections, I have requested security be posted at all polling places from 6 a.m. until approximately 8 p.m. or whenever the last poll worker leaves the polling place. I have also requested to have security at the courthouse where ballots are counted the evenings of the 2024 elections.

People who come into her office are not level-headed. Bullying and threatening. Security is an issue.

*Resigned around July 28 or 29, 2024. What happens now for the upcoming election?