On Election Day, we watched election officials across the country spring their contingency plans into action - responding to bomb threats, machine malfunctions and power outages, as well as other predictable disruptions. In this episode, Michelle Hawley, Director of the Milwaukee County Election Commission, joins Claire Woodall and Angelina Clapp to provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the planning and partnerships that officials have spent years developing in order to ensure democracy isn’t disrupted. Hawley shares her expert insights on the meticulous planning and crisis management necessary to ensure smooth elections, especially in high-pressure environments. 

Elections are about the people—those voting and those working tirelessly to ensure every vote is counted. Whether it’s managing recounts or ensuring polling places are operational against all odds, this episode highlights the dedication of election officials working tirelessly behind the scenes. A veteran of public service with a background in the military and judicial systems, Hawley’s approach to leadership in elections underscores resilience, preparation, and teamwork.  

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In this episode of Democracy Fix, Mia Minkin, Angelina Clapp and Carah Ong Whaley sit down with former Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a seasoned election official and advocate for safe and secure elections. We unpack the complexities of election administration in the modern era and reflect on how elections were safe and secure in 2024, even in spite of a wide range of challenges, including foreign malign influence and dozens of bomb threats at polling sites in key states on the last day of voting. We also delve into the challenges of maintaining public trust in election integrity, the impact of foreign and domestic threats on voting infrastructure, stories of resilience and innovation in the face of unprecedented obstacles, and the need for federal funding and robust security measures to level the playing field for all jurisdictions.

Sec. Wyman emphasizes the critical role of public confidence in elections, stating, “Elections are the foundation for the representatives we send to Congress, state legislatures, or even our local government. If people lose trust in the process, they lose trust in their leaders." Sec. Wyman also highlights the importance of transparency: “Election officials spend most of their time not only doing their job technically well but also focusing on building trustworthy elections. Transparency is key to showing the public that every vote is counted accurately and securely.”

Kim Wyman served as Washington Secretary of State from 2013 to 2021. Her career in elections began in 1993 as Thurston County Election Director and later Auditor, where she successfully pioneered some of the country’s first vote-by-mail elections and collaborated on many national elections and cybersecurity initiatives. Respected for her bipartisan leadership, Secretary Wyman was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden to serve as CISA’s senior election security advisor. She is currently a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and president of ESI Consulting.

Links in this episode: 

Committee for Safe and Secure Elections

Election officials have always played a critical role in ensuring that our votes are cast and counted fairly. But in recent years, the landscape of election work has dramatically changed. No longer seen as a quiet, behind-the-scenes service, election officials are now on the front lines of an increasingly toxic environment, facing harassment, threats, and a flood of misinformation.

In this episode of Democracy Fix, two seasoned election officials, Tonya Wichman, Director of Elections in Defiance County, Ohio, and Wesley Wilcox, Supervisor of Elections in Marion County, Florida join Dr. Carah Ong Whaley and Angelina Clapp to discuss the evolving role of election administration, and how they’re standing up against the tide of misinformation and political interference to ensure the integrity of our elections. Both Tonya and Wesley are featured in the powerful new documentary, The Officials, which shines a light on the pressures and challenges they and their colleagues across the country face as they prepare for the 2024 presidential election.

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The Officials film and companion toolkit

In this episode of Democracy Fix, Tina Barton, senior election expert at The Elections Group, and former Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN) join hosts Dr. Carah Ong Whaley and Jeanne Broome to discuss the biggest threats facing U.S. elections and what is being done to address them. Both guests emphasize that the greatest danger is the potential non-acceptance of election results. Congressman Wamp warns that "The biggest problem is the peaceful transfer of power. Without it, we risk losing the very essence of American exceptionalism.” Barton highlights another dimension to the challenges to election integrity in 2024: the spread of false information from both foreign adversaries and domestic sources, which she describes as "intentionally aimed at causing division and confusion. The episode explores how election officials are preparing to counter these threats through increased cybersecurity, public education, and bipartisan collaborations. The conversation underscores that voters need to get information from trusted sources, such as their state and local election offices, and be patient, and calm as election results may not be known on Election Night.

Links in this episode: 

• Committee for Safe and Secure Elections

In this episode, hosts Carah Ong Whaley, Angelina Clapp, and Mia Minkin sit down with King County, WA Director of Elections Julie Wise for a deep dive into the county’s award-winning initiatives to ensure all voices are heard in elections. Known for her passionate advocacy for voter accessibility and election transparency, Wise discusses the critical role of trained, nonpartisan election administrators in preserving democracy.

She highlights the challenges faced by election officials across the country, including the need for consistent and reliable federal funding, the impact of the spread of false election information, and the rise in threats against election workers. Despite the challenges, Wisee’s dedication to increasing voter participation and improving election systems remains unwavering.

Whether you're a policy wonk or just curious about what goes on behind the scenes in our elections, this episode is packed with insights on how to build a more inclusive and transparent democratic process.

Tune in to hear about the inspiring work being done in King County, WA to strengthen the foundation of our democracy.

Episode links: 

• King County, WA Elections

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon joins Issue One’s Dr. Carah Ong Whaley and Liz Cassin to discuss the challenges posed by the spread of false election information and the importance of directing voters to credible sources. Recently, Grok, an AI chatbot operated by X (formerly known as Twitter), disseminated false information regarding ballot laws in nine states. In response, Sec. Simon and four other secretaries of state wrote a letter to Elon Musk, urging him to correct the misinformation. Sec. Simon highlights the broader challenges posed by AI models that often fail to provide accurate voting information and suggests a simple, proactive solution: directing users to accurate resources like CanIVote.org. 

Our conversation also delves into the challenges posed by the spread of false information on social media. “I think social media companies have a really big and serious responsibility to the voters in this country,” Sec. Simon tells us. “They have an obligation to make sure that their users, all Americans, have accurate information.” Sec. Simon draws a distinction between platform-generated misinformation and user-generated content: “There are at least two ways that mis- and disinformation can come about. One is when users on a particular platform say the wrong thing, either unintentionally or intentionally. And while I can see that's tougher to police, it's not impossible to police. And when a particular post, maybe one that has a particularly large audience and penetration, is discovered, it's not an unreasonable request to reach out to these companies and ask them to do something about it.” 

Minnesota has been at the forefront of legislative efforts to combat misinformation, including new laws that limit the use of deepfakes in campaigns. The state has also implemented laws to protect election workers from rising threats, harassment and intimidation that has resulted from the proliferation of false election information. 

Links in this episode: 

• CanIVote.org 

With such a closely watched vote count in 2024, election process transparency is critical for voter confidence. Former Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan and former State Representative Geraldine Custer join Dr. Carah Ong Whaley and Risa Dorf to share their new nonpartisan initiative to provide voters in Montana with trusted and independent oversight of state elections. The effort aims to address misinformation about elections and to build public confidence in how they are run and in who runs them.

“This is one thing communities, local and state governments can do to hopefully bring back confidence. At the same time we’re educating folks about what this process is,” Jeff Mangan shares about the impact such nonpartisan election observation initiatives can have. “We’ve got to get back to recognizing that elections are run by our neighbors; it’s the folks we vote for, it’s the folks we go to dinner with. We can have confidence in it.”

The Montana Election Observation Initiative is a cross-partisan advisory board of Montanans with previous experience in state government and election administration. With support from The Carter Center, the Montana Election Observation Initiative piloted a nonpartisan election observation effort for Missoula County’s June 4, 2024, primary election. 

Links in this episode: 

• New Initiative Tests Nonpartisan Observation, Montana Free Press

In this episode of Democracy Fix, New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver joins hosts Dr. Carah Ong Whaley and Mia Minkin to discuss innovative strategies that election officials in her state are pursuing to increase election integrity. As Secretary Toulouse Oliver aptly states, "We build so many checks and balances into our processes it takes time…It's the mundane paint drying processes that ensure that our elections are accurate and that the outcomes are fair.” 

Secretary Toulouse Oliver demystifies the complexities of how elections work and underscores the crucial role each citizen plays in maintaining the integrity of our democracy. She shares how her office is recruiting and training poll workers, the critical need for consistent federal funding to safeguard our elections, and the threats posed by false information and the use of artificial intelligence and deepfake technologies. "The amount of misinformation and disinformation has been explosive. It's very hard to manage. You play whack-a-mole. In the next months leading up to the election, we're probably going to see more of it than ever before a presidential election,” says Secretary Toulouse Oliver.

Throughout our conversation, Secretary Toulouse Oliver emphasizes the importance of community involvement in the electoral process and highlights the resilience required to uphold democratic values in today's challenging political landscape. Tune in to hear more about what we can do, as Secretary Toulouse Oliver puts it, “to run as tight a ship as we can in this election year for our democracy to hold, for our institutions to hold, for this institution of voting to hold.”

Links in this episode: 

• New Mexico Secretary of State

What and whose speech does the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protect in the digital age? Misinformation about the First Amendment and notions of censorship are being used to distort policy debates and legislative interventions aimed at addressing the rampant spread of false information and online harms. The confusion arises when people believe they have the right to be heard without opposition. “People think that they have freedom of reach as opposed to freedom of speech,” says Dr. Mary Anne Franks, who joins Liana Keesing and Dr. Carah Ong Whaley to discuss the implications of the Supreme Court’s opinions in Murthy v. Missouri, Moody v. Netchoice. Dr. Franks also explains how provisions under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 impact social media platform liability debates and the urgent need for policy change to strengthen democratic discourse and create a safer and more responsible online world.

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at the George Washington University Law School. She is also a member of Issue One’s Council on Responsible Social Media and is the Co-Chair of our Section 230 Task Force.  

Links in this episode: 

• Cyber Civil Rights Initiative

Despite a toxic information environment, election officials are stepping up to meet the moment and make elections more safe and secure in 2024. One of the leaders is Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a member of Issue One’s Faces of Democracy campaign, who just won a Clearinghouse Award for Outstanding Innovation in Election Cybersecurity and Technology. 

In this episode, Secretary Fontes talks about how election officials are preparing for the challenges posed by the spread of false information, generative artificial intelligence technologies, the need for reliable federal funding for elections, and why ordinary Americans should step up and serve as poll workers this election year. 

Be sure to listen through to the end of our conversation to learn about a not-so-secret talent Secretary Fontes has, why “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is his favorite movie, and which historical figure he would most like to meet. 

Links in this episode: 

• Arizona Department of Elections