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By Rep. Joe Morelle and Brian Lemek
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Every election, tens of thousands of Americans do work most voters never see. They open polling places before sunrise. They check registrations, secure ballots, count votes, investigate discrepancies and answer questions from voters. They work long hours, often for little recognition or pay, to make sure their neighbors can exercise the most fundamental right in our democracy.
They’re Democrats. They’re Republicans. They’re independents. They share something more important than their politics. They have a responsibility to administer our elections fairly, securely and according to the law.
As we approach the 2026 midterm elections, Americans are going to be bombarded with false information designed to create anxiety about the integrity of our elections. The president and his allies have repeatedly attacked election systems and officials, questioned long-established procedures, and pressured states and local officials to change how elections have been conducted.
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We should not allow those attacks to obscure a simple truth. The people running our elections do an extraordinarily important job and they deserve our full confidence and support.
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As the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, the committee with oversight over election laws, and the leader of a national voting rights and democracy advocacy organization, we have enormous confidence in local election officials—Republicans and Democrats alike.
They take their responsibility seriously because they understand what’s at stake. As one local Republican official, former Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates, put it, the people running elections are “your neighbors. It is your aunt. It is your uncle. It is your mother.”
That’s the reality of American election administration. Elections are run by people in our communities who take an oath, follow the law and understand that their responsibility to voters is a sacred trust.
That trust is well placed. Following the 2020 and 2024 elections, directors of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—one serving under a Republican administration and one under a Democratic administration—affirmed the security of our elections and praised state and local election officials. In 2020, CISA urged Americans to turn to election officials as “trusted voices” as they administer elections.
That’s especially important when it comes to what happens after the votes are counted.
Election officials have a legal duty to certify election results after the required canvassing and verification processes are complete. Certification is not an opportunity for officials to decide whether they agree with the results. It’s not a political judgment. It’s the final step in a process designed to establish and confirm what the voters decided.
When there are legitimate questions about an election, there are legitimate ways to address them. Audits, recounts, legal challenges and other procedures established by state law exist for that purpose. Certification does not prevent those processes. In fact, delaying certification can make it harder to resolve disputes through the proper channels.
This matters because election officials may face extraordinary pressure in the months ahead. They may be told to ignore their legal responsibilities. They may be threatened or harassed. They may be told that certifying an election makes them complicit in something improper.
They will certainly be urged by the president to break their oaths and the sacred trust placed in them. But Americans should know the truth. Following the law is the job of election officials, and the law is on their side.
No president, political party or candidate can change an election official’s legal responsibilities simply by demanding they do something different. If officials are threatened for doing their jobs, they deserve protection from those threats, including the full support of the justice system.
We also need to tell voters something just as important. You can trust the people doing this work.
Confidence in our elections comes from the people, laws and safeguards that make them work. Republicans and Democrats serve as poll workers and observers. Election workers conduct audits and canvasses. Officials follow established procedures. Courts resolve legitimate disputes.
The system is not perfect, because no human or institution is perfect. But it’s built to withstand scrutiny, correct mistakes and produce an accurate record of what voters decided—which it has done for decades.
To the election officials who will do this work this November, thank you. Do your jobs. Follow the law. Count the votes. Certify the results. Know that you are not standing alone.
To voters, have confidence in the people who make our elections possible. They’re our neighbors and our fellow citizens. They’re entrusted with an extraordinary responsibility. They deserve the same thing from us that we expect from them: a commitment to the law, the truth and the democratic process.
Our elections belong to the people. And the folks who run them have earned our trust to make sure they stay that way.
Representative Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.) is the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, which has jurisdiction over election law, and is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Brian Lemek is the founder and executive director of Defend The Vote Action Fund.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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