Being a secretary of state during election season used to be a fairly straightforward job: raising a small army of poll workers and ballot counters and overseeing an accurate tally of the votes.
But in this era of disinformation and razor-thin election margins, the job has become much more difficult.
Not only are the Secretaries of State for Arizona and Nevada tasked with overseeing what might be the closest and highest-stakes election either swing state has ever experienced, but they also have to fight off conspiracy theories and violent threats.
Adrian Fontes, Arizona's Secretary of State, and Francisco Aguilar, Nevada's Secretary of State, both joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to discuss how they’re preparing for the big night…and the days or weeks afterward.
Listen here:
Fontes said his office has been working with state, local, and federal law enforcement and preparing election officials across Arizona for whatever issues might arise.
“Here's the bottom line: elections are run by, you know, people like you and me, just regular citizens who come together every once in a while and do a lot of these jobs,” Fontes said. “And they've been lied against. Their honor and their integrity have been called into question to the point that we've got to have these conversations and, and we can no longer just focus on the fundamentals of delivering strong, secure and accurate elections. We've now got to worry about these safety questions.”
A poll by the Brennan Center for Justice found that election officials are leaving their jobs in droves amid threats, harassment, and political interference.
“That having been said, there is definitely a silver lining in that the folks that are coming into the profession to replace them are coming in eyes wide open,” Fontes said. “They understand not only the value of the work, but some of the potential risks, and they come anyway.”
In Nevada, the Washoe County Republican Party recently made and then deleted posts claiming without evidence that voting machines were switching people's votes from Trump to Harris. County officials said there have been no irregularities with voting machines.
Aguilar said officials have to be “ready in real time” to combat that kind of disinformation.
“It's building trusted messengers throughout the state. Our former Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, who's the president of the University of Nevada Reno, is out there explaining to voters how secure and safe our system is,” he said. “We implemented a statewide election management system this year that is live now and that's helping us bring transparency and trust to the process.”
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With so many Americans distrustful of government agencies, Fontes said the battle we’re facing is “a battle for leadership.”
“The legacy of the last several years is that the United States of America and a lot of our folks really rely on their leaders to lead well,” he said. “We need to do as a society in this republic is hold leaders accountable more quickly and more sternly when they do move to mislead us and to foist, you know, these conspiracies and these unfounded games and mythologies at the American public, because it could have some very negative repercussions.”
Listen to the full conversation above, and catch new episodes of Countdown 2024 live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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