Politico: Election officials ready themselves for the next wave of Trump followers
Hundreds of local election officials across the country are about to confront a political challenge putting their management skills and their campaign chops to the test: Administering the 2024 presidential vote while running for reelection themselves.
Donald Trump acolytes galvanized by the former presidents false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen from him piled into last years campaigns for state election officer positions. And although Democrats and mainstream Republicans defeated all of those candidates in key battleground states like Michigan, Arizona and elsewhere, far more races for local election positions there and in other states will be up for grabs next year.
The slate of below-the-radar campaigns will test how much money and attention will be available for these critical roles in the midst of a presidential race.
The concerns about being primaried is absolutely on the mind of very dedicated and very middle-of-the-road, nonpartisan-functioning election officials in Florida, said Mark Earley, the election supervisor in Leon County, Fla., a blue-leaning county in the states deep-red Panhandle.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/31/election-officials-2024-reelection-presidential-vote-00080543