'I dread 2024': America's local election officials are being pushed to their limits

Lackluster funding, infinite work hours, staff shortages, limited resources, abusive phone calls and more: These problems are nothing new for America's election officials. They have stretched from long before the pandemic to today. 

Despite it all, they have remained steadfast in the conviction that their job is what maintains American democracy. Failure is not an option.

“We don’t stop elections," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of North Carolina State’s Board of Elections. "We figure out how to proceed."

Now, however, their patience is being pushed to its limits by new hostility and threats – it's pushing officials away and it doesn’t bode well for future elections.

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