CINCINNATI — The midterm election is just days away but this year it’s not just about counting ballots. State and local election officials are struggling to overcome disinformation and false claims of fraud.
“I think 2020 changed everything,” said Alex Linser, deputy director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. “We have seen a lot more questions, a lot more anxiety, a lot more people who are unsure about the outcome of elections. It’s no longer good enough for us to be good at our jobs; we have to show voters how we do what we do.”
In Hamilton County, elections officials launched a “Meet the Staff,” social media campaign to humanize its employees, and a series of “Did You Know,” videos to demonstrate the vote counting process and equipment. They’ve also given tours to the media, local candidates and groups such as the NAACP.
When WCPO toured the Hamilton County facility last week, Linser demonstrated how the locked vote counting room can only be accessed jointly by a Democrat and a Republican election worker, who swipe their badges in tandem.
Bipartisan teams also test the accuracy of all 775 ballot-counting machines in Hamilton County. Officials store ballots in a floor-to-ceiling cage until bipartisan teams can organize them by precinct and send them to polling locations.
“The cage is always double locked, so you’ve got a D-lock and an R-lock as well as a serial number on a seal. Every time somebody opens this lock, they have to break the seal and we record the seal on this (written log), so we know who’s getting into the ballot room and for what purpose,” Linser said. “Ballots, we treat with the highest level of security. We want to make absolutely sure that there can be no even accusation that the ballots have been tampered with.”
University of Cincinnati journalism professor Jeff Blevins believes this transparency is admirable and necessary, but he questions its effectiveness in persuading die-hard election doubters.
“There is the skeptic in me that worries it’s not going to be that effective,” Blevins said. “Once some people have their mind made up about something, it’s not going to change no matter what.”
Blevins studied the 2016 election and is an expert on misinformation on social media.
“The problem that we have with this election cycle is … it’s old disinformation that’s been out there for two years,” Blevins said. “People have already become entrenched in their positions. Really, it’s the same claim that’s been repeated over and over again.”
This year as many as five to 10 people called or emailed the Hamilton County Board of Elections each day still questioning the result of the 2020 election.
“They come in waves … whenever some high-profile person comes out and questions the 2020 election then we see an influx of emails and phone calls questioning the results,” Linser said. “It’s really hard to fight a lie when the people who believe it want to believe it.”
Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams’ website has a rumor control section that addresses common falsehoods like the use of the internet to calculate votes. In truth, no voting machines are ever connected to the internet.
“(In 2020) dishonest and irresponsible allegations that Kentucky election officials were engaged in ‘voter suppression’ went viral, leading to thousands of hostile callers who jammed election officials' phone lines and, in some cases, led to verbal abuse and even death threats against these officials. Record voter turnout in the primary and general elections disproved these falsehoods, but sadly, they continue,” according to Adams’ website.
This year, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered the state’s 88 county boards of elections to boost security requirements with enhanced video surveillance and new standards for private vendors. Then, in October, he unveiled a new public integrity division to investigate voter fraud and perform post-election audits.
“Secure and accessible elections are the bedrock of our democracy. There is currently a crisis of confidence among Americans in our nation’s electoral system. Poll after poll highlights concerns about the state of our democracy. By shining a brighter light on the proven system that works here in Ohio, Secretary LaRose hopes to strengthen that confidence,” according to LaRose’s website.
But all of this is taking a toll on elections workers, especially in Ohio where elections workers had to give up summer vacations and work overtime to prepare for a third primary election in August due to redistricting issues that omitted races for the state legislature in the May primary.
“The staff started working overtime in February of this year and never really stopped,” Linser said. “It’s been a very long year for the elections officials.”
Elections officials nationwide are also facing threats and harassment, which is taking a toll on the industry nationwide.
“One in four elections officials are thinking about quitting,” Linser said.
The FBI warned of election-related crimes ahead of the midterms in an Oct. 12 bulletin, saying “Election crimes threaten the integrity of elections and undermine public confidence in our democracy.”
Linser declined to go into specifics but said the Hamilton County Board of Elections has increased physical security “quite a bit” since 2020, and it will be enhanced further in the days leading up to the election.
“We put a lot of effort into coordinating with local emergency management and local law enforcement on Election Day. So even though you might not necessarily see a police presence we are in constant contact with local officials in all 49 jurisdictions,” Linser said.
Blevins worries about false rumors that could spread on Election Day to discredit poll workers and misinformation on social media, like photos of ballots that were supposedly dumped in the trash.
“I could show you a box with papers in it, you have no idea what’s really in there, but I say in my post that those are ballots for my candidates that were thrown out. That’s it. Good luck trying to disprove that,” Blevins said.
Blevins encouraged naysayers to see for themselves that the elections process is safe and secure.
While Hamilton County had enough poll workers as of Monday, Linser said anyone with questions is welcome to contact local elections officials and ask for a tour.
At most polling places, and in elections offices, many Democrats and Republicans have been peacefully working together for years, Blevins said.
“What we all have in common is a very certain sense of patriotism that what gets done in this building, running elections, we believe in it,” Linser said.
