From Scarcity to Safety: Mitigating Turnover Among Local Election Officials

By Yuguo Liao, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Administration, University of Missouri-St. Louis and David C. Kimball, PhD, Professor of Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis (SPECIAL FOR ELECTIONLINEWEEKLY)

Local election officials (LEOs) are vital to maintaining trust and efficiency in the democratic process. However, turnover intentions among LEOs are concerningly high, with environmental challenges like resource scarcity and safety concerns significantly influencing decisions to leave their positions.

In the work our University of Missouri-St. Louis team conducted in conjunction with the Elections & Voting Information Center (EVIC) and EVIC’s principal researchers Paul Gronke, PhD, (Reed College) and Paul Manson, PhD, (Center for Public Service at Portland State University), we studied resource scarcity and safety concerns and their impact on LEOs’ decisions about leaving their positions. The EVIC team helped facilitate our work by integrating some of our research questions into their 2024 EVIC Local Election Official Survey.

With regard to resource scarcity, our research has shown that limited funding affects nearly 30% of all LEOs of all sized jurisdictions, rising to over 40% in mid-sized jurisdictions, leading to work exhaustion and decreased job satisfaction.

In looking at LEO safety concerns, we found that more than 65% of LEOs report facing verbal or online harassment, and 30% have experienced direct threats.

In the face of these ongoing challenges, we wanted to understand: (1) how workplace conditions (resources and safety) influence LEOs’ turnover decisions, focusing on job satisfaction as the underlying mechanism, and (2) why some LEOs remain despite challenges, examining how psychological empowerment and public service motivation shape the impact of these challenges on LEOs’ job satisfaction and, ultimately, their turnover intentions.

Our findings show the following:

• Adequate resources to conduct the election and educate voters can reduce LEOs’ turnover intentions.
• Safety concerns indeed increase LEOs’ turnover intentions.
• Job satisfaction acts as a psychological bridge between workplace conditions (resource availability and safety) and turnover decisions, which explains more than half of the estimated impact of workplace conditions on LEOs’ turnover intentions.
• LEOs express relatively high levels of psychological empowerment and commitment to public service. They feel psychological empowerment meaning LEOs feel autonomous, competent, and impactful in their roles. The following figure shows the proportion of LEOs who agree about positive features of their job:

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• LEOs report high public service motivation expressing a commitment to serving the public. The following figure shows the proportion of LEOs who agree about the importance of the following values:

  
• When LEOs feel highly psychologically empowered, they feel a strong sense of autonomy and competence, which makes the availability of external resources less important for their turnover decisions.
• However, when resources are scarce, LEOs with high public service motivation may make them feel a deep sense of misalignment between their aspirations and the reality of their work environment, pushing them to leave.
• LEOs with high psychological empowerment and high public service motivation are sensitive to safety concerns. As a result, even small safety concerns could lead to a stronger decline in job satisfaction, which in turn makes them more likely to leave the position.
• Based on our this research, we make the following policy recommendations:
• Address Environmental Challenges by increasing funding for election administration to alleviate resource scarcity, and strengthen legal protections and penalties for threats and harassment.
• Strengthen Job Satisfaction Monitoring by implementing regular job satisfaction surveys to identify emerging dissatisfaction before it escalates into turnover. Establish feedback mechanisms that allow LEOs to voice concerns about resources and safety in real time.
• Strengthen Psychological Empowerment to reduce resource dependence. Provide leadership development, autonomy, and professional growth opportunities to help LEOs feel more in control of their roles. Recognize and celebrate LEOs’ contributions to reinforce their sense of competence and purpose.
• Address Resource Gaps to retain high-public service motivation LEOs. Secure consistent funding for election administration to prevent frustration among high- public service motivation LEOs who are deeply committed to public service.
• Enhance Safety Protections for high-public service motivation and highly empowered LEOs. Implement comprehensive safety protocols, including increased security at election offices and clear reporting mechanisms for threats. Strengthen legal protections and enforcement against harassment and intimidation targeting election officials. Provide mental health resources and peer support networks to help LEOs cope with safety-related stress.