In battleground Nevada county, a top elections official confronts escalating threats

Washoe County, Nevada, has grappled with an election worker exodus driven by the complexity of the job as well as by threats and harassment faced by workers.

In the Washoe County elections office, everyone is new to the job. Cari-Ann Burgess – the top elections official in the county – is the third registrar of voters there in just four years. She’s been leading the office for less than six months. Her deputy, Andrew McDonald, has been on the job for a few weeks. Media production specialist George Guthrie started less than nine months ago. Even Noah Autrey, the office assistant, started full-time less than a year ago. With 100% staff turnover since the last presidential election, Washoe County is emblematic of a nationwide trend. States are gearing up for the 2024 election while grappling with an election worker exodus driven by the complexity of the job, as well as threats and harassment, experts say. Election worker turnover has been ticking up steadily over the past two decades, but the pace has increased in recent cycles. Since 2020, at least 36% of local election officials have left the job, according to researchers from the Bipartisan Policy Center and the University of California, Los Angeles. “We know that an unsafe work environment is a big consideration for election officials when they leave their roles,” said Rachel Orey, a senior associate director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s elections project. “Threats and harassment are one of the many factors that lead to turnover.” Burgess has quit before too. She worked on elections in her home state of Minnesota in 2020, until the stress became too overwhelming. On a grocery store run with her children, a constituent started screaming at her, prompting Burgess to abandon her cart and leave the store.