The Tar Heel State has long been the first in the nation to vote — under state law that allows general election ballots to be issued two months before Election Day. But officials here say the 2022 midterm elections are unlike any election before, as workers face security threats and an onslaught of what they see as frivolous public records requests from people questioning the results of the 2020 election. Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said local election officials have installed panic buttons and bulletproof glass in their offices in response to threats. And he said local election offices are also “swallowed” by requests to copy public records that arrive daily and appear to be attempts to “burden counties where they can’t focus” on carrying out their 2022 election duties. State officials say the requests range from requests to see obscure documents generated by ballot counting machines to contracts with Dominion Voting Systems — though the company’s machines are not used in North Carolina elections. “It’s time to move on,” Brinson Bell said Friday in an interview with CNN. “We’ve certified. We’ve checked. We’ve recounted so much of the 2020 election. And what’s at play now is democracy.” The deluge in North Carolina — as officials there try to manage this year’s general election — underscores the ongoing challenges posed by election conspiracy theorists who have made false claims that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that voting machines were somehow compromised to overturn votes. Dominion has filed multiple defamation lawsuits in response. Election officials across the country have reported similar onslaughts of public records requests. David Becker, who runs the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, said the problem is widespread. “Public records requests are good, in general, when they’re used to get real information that you might not otherwise be able to understand about how government works,” he said. But Becker said election officials are facing dual demands that appear designed to “intimidate” and “overwhelm” staff. In addition, state and local officials say they are facing a new set of record-keeping requirements with vague threats of legal action for the 2020 election. “We are 676 days from the November 2020 election,” said Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer. “There are no pending lawsuits with a legal or factual basis that have established even the slightest trace of malfeasance, impropriety, or widespread fraud in any aspect of the 2020 election.” Last week, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, cited frivolous requests and requests to recount previous elections as one of the reasons for the higher-than-usual turnover among local election officials. He said 23 of the state’s 120 election officials have not sought re-election. In North Carolina, 45 of the 100 county election directors have left their jobs in the past three years, Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, told CNN. “This is the toughest election season I’ve been through and I think most county managers would say the same,” Gannon added. In Buncombe County, which includes the city of Asheville, elections director Corinne Duncan said she spent so much time juggling records requests last week that she had to “come in over the weekend to hire new clerks and try to runs an office.” The bombing “adds to an already stressful job,” he added. “People in elections are generally underpaid. We’re asked to work very, very long hours, to respond quickly to change … so it’s very difficult to have more and more things on us.” Officials in other states are preparing to mail absentee ballots in the coming weeks. Alabama is next with absentee ballots available as of Wednesday — or 55 days before Election Day. Federal law requires that absentee ballots be sent to military and overseas voters at least 45 days before a federal election. In North Carolina, the general election includes a high-profile contest for an open U.S. Senate seat now held by retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Seats in the state legislature and state Supreme Court are also among those on the ballot. Despite the new level of “hostility” election officials are facing, Brinson Bell said North Carolina workers remain focused on their jobs. “Our eye is on the ball in the midterm elections,” he said. CNN’s Ethan Cohen and Melissa DePalo contributed to this story.
