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 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. 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. 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 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.
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