The 80% Problem: How Women in Civic Life Are Overworked and Unsafe

“I should not be here. I signed up as an election worker because I believe in our democracy. I signed up to support my daughter, Shaye, whose entire professional career has been devoted to making sure Fulton County elections are fair and that every vote is counted,” said Ruby Freeman in a May 2022 House Select Committee deposition. 

Ruby Freeman was a victim of political violence simply for supporting the administration of elections. She became a target of election deniers after the 2020 election and received myriad racist threats. These threats forced her to leave her home, displacing her and her grandson. 

This story resonated deeply with me from the moment I heard it, and I share it frequently. As a young Latina woman who has been fascinated by the idea of “democracy” for as long as I can remember, I know Ruby is not the only woman driven out of civic life. Throughout my upbringing, I witnessed how women, racial minorities, and others are left—or pushed—out of democratic and political conversations. This intimate knowledge of what women in politics face every day and what communities lose when governments fail to protect them drove me and my peers, Logan Payne and Amara Nnabue, to launch Her Action, a campaign dedicated to ending political violence against women. To protect a democracy under threat, we must protect the women who uphold it.

Her Action is focused on three policy priorities, all with a shared goal of supporting women across the political spectrum: 

• Voter Bill of Rights: Inform voters of their rights and improve transparency and trust within electoral institutions. 
• Confidentiality Provisions: Protect the private information of officials who administer our elections.
• Funding.:Ensure election safety through adequate funding measures. 

Election Officials: Overrepresented and Undersupported 

A heightened risk of violence extends beyond women who are on the ballot to women who make sure our elections are safe, secure, and functioning so people like you and me can show up and vote. Eighty percent of local election officials are women, and they are disproportionately targeted with harassment and political violence. 

The work of an election official includes testing voting machines, verifying voter eligibility before registering individuals to vote, and recruiting poll workers. This work, which is largely nonpartisan, is vital to our democracy.   

With ongoing threats and attacks, more election officials are leaving their jobs than ever before. In a new report from Issue One, 50 percent of top election officials across eleven Western states left their jobs since Election Day 2020. These numbers are not dropping; in fact, departures have increased by 10 percentage points since the group’s 2023 survey. 

According to another survey, more than one-third of local election officials know at least one person who resigned, in part, over safety concerns, up from 22 percent in 2023. The same survey found 38 percent of election officials report experiencing threats, harassment, and abuse, simply for doing their jobs. Election officials are critical to the health and security of our elections—and they are under more pressure and scrutiny than ever. These threats are not simply “incidentals” of the job; they are a pattern of systemic violence that keeps a predominantly female workforce from effectively doing their work. For democracy to thrive, we must take actionable steps to reduce the threats and violence that are forcing many local officials to leave their posts. 

Reimagining Democracy through Actionable Policy Reform        

How do we ensure a representative and safe democracy for women who wish to serve in civic life? What must change to keep talented women in their election official roles and keep women running and serving in public office? An actionable policy agenda that supports, uplifts, and protects the people who safeguard our elections is necessary to achieve a thriving democracy. 

• Voter Bill of Rights: End the Disinformation Campaign Eroding Trust in Our Elections
  More than 70 percent of election officials say that disinformation makes their jobs harder. More than ever before, Americans are distrustful of election systems, processes, and the people who sustain our democracy. Voters carry that fear with them to the polls. That fear damages our democracy and puts election officials under increased pressure. Improving transparency and trust requires clear language that disavows political violence, defines voter intimidation, and tells people who to call if they experience threats while voting. 
• Confidentiality Provisions: Keep Women Safe in Their Own Homes  
  Too many women in public office have been attacked, swatted, threatened, and harassed in their own homes—the one place they should be the safest. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows—who, like many secretaries of state, also serves as her state’s chief election officer—faced multiple incidents of doxxing and death threats after her home address was shared online. Allowing election officials to keep their home addresses private adds an extra layer of protection for those who choose to step up and serve their communities.
  
  Election officials traditionally work behind the scenes on bipartisan committees and in spaces that have become overtly politicized and put under a microscope. Keeping their home addresses private will help them feel safer and more likely to remain in their positions. Several states, including Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada, have enacted address protections.
• Funding: Make the Critical Infrastructural Work Possible 
  Election security is at risk, especially given federal cuts that have made these jobs harder. When funding is at risk, it makes it impossible for election officials to take the appropriate safety measures to protect themselves, their workforce, and voters. Seventy-five percent of local election officials have stated that their local government has not provided resources to address federal funding cuts. 
  
  The federal government has gone from providing up to $425 million in grants to states dedicated to election security to $45 million, approximately $250,000 per state. This hefty gap is left to the states to address, while an overwhelming majority of election officials have underscored the critical need for services like election security training, cybersecurity assessments, and incident response assistance to local election officials. 
  
  These are the fundamental skills and training necessary to ensure the safety and security of election officials and, by extension, safe elections. For a representative democracy to survive and thrive, it needs adequate funding and support for the election official workforce. Without filling this funding gap, we cannot protect the women who serve as both the foundation and frontline of protecting our elections. 

Conclusion

Election officials are an example of what it means to be a woman in politics: They are doing the majority of the critical work to ensure the functioning of institutions, while remaining underfunded, unsupported, and pushed aside.    

Election officials are a rare area of political life where women are overrepresented. Pride in this fact is quickly overtaken by concern over the threats and harassment they face when they engage in civic life. These challenges force women to change how they show up and whether they show up at all. Carly Koppes, a Republican election official in Weld County, Colorado, kept her pregnancy hidden from the public as long as she could, fearing backlash. She was proven right when the news broke and harassment followed.

Through mentorship, advocacy, and showing up locally, I have focused my career on ensuring an inclusive democratic process. I have seen the ineffectiveness of government institutions that cannot represent people’s needs because they do not understand or include them. Democracy can only thrive when we fulfill our promise of “every voice.” But what happens when the voices of women are driven out by threats that are loud locally but ignored nationally?   

To achieve a world where women can show up as leaders in civic life, we must address the threats they face, whether they are on the ballot or administering it. This requires instituting safety measures that remove this barrier, bringing our nation closer to a place where everyone, regardless of their gender, can serve and support their elections.