Election officials keep quitting years after 2020, as new study flags ongoing turnover risk
The trend of local election officials exiting their roles since 2020 has continued at a brisk pace, with a new study finding 50% of chief local election officials in the Western portion of the U.S. have left their jobs since 2020.
Election administrators, including hired employees and elected officials, have increasingly quit or left their roles in the past five years, with a study published by nonprofit Issue One finding the departures have not slowed as the nation moves farther away from the pandemic-era cycle. Multiple studies show election officials have been leaving their jobs at higher rates since 2020, building on a longer-running pattern of elevated turnover that dates back to at least 2000.
The Issue One study found that "50% of chief local election officials in the nation’s Western states have left their jobs since November 2020, often leaving their positions partway through their terms for personal reasons."
The study focused on 11 states in the West, including Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, California, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington state. The study found a 10 percentage-point increase in chief local election official departures in the 11 states when compared to the group's 2023 study examining the same region.
"Since Election Day in November 2020, Issue One found that 50% of counties in the Western United States have experienced turnover in the chief local election official position — with at least one chief local election official leaving the job in 211 counties and at least two individuals leaving the job in 32 counties," the study detailed.
"In one Arizona county, five different people have held the role of elections director since the 2020 presidential election. All told, more than 250 individuals have left these critical election administration roles in Western states since November 2020," it continued.
The majority of the turnover, to the tune of an estimated 76%, was due to voluntary departures, not failed election campaigns, term limits, firings or death, according to the study. Authors pointed to "threats, harassment, heightened stress, and increased scrutiny that does not yet show signs of abating" as to variables sparking the election officials to step aside.
GUNFIRE, ARSON AND VANDALISM: TRACKING POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN AMERICA
Claims of voter fraud underscored the 2020 election cycle, as President Donald Trump argued he won at the ballot boxes over former President Joe Biden in a lengthy election and legal saga that has persisted poured into the second Trump administration.
Politico reported on the Issue One study Tuesday in an article that also included exclusive details from a separate report published by U.K. research organization, Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which found there has been a 200% increase in violent rhetoric toward public officials when comparing online posts in 2021 to 2022, and another set of digital messages in 2024 to 2025.
That study found violent rhetoric affects both political parties, but that "President Trump was disproportionately targeted, incurring the vast majority of threats against Republican leaders."
'ASSASSINATION CULTURE' IS ON THE RISE, ESPECIALLY AMONG WOMEN, STUDY WARNS
The steady departure of local election officials since 2020 has become a rare bipartisan alarm bell, with Republicans and Democrats warning that burnout, threats and relentless scrutiny are thinning the ranks of the people who keep elections running.
The issue of election officials departing their roles has been a trend since at least 2000, according to previously published data by the Bipartisan Policy Center, which found the 2024 election cycle reported the highest recorded rate of turnover for election officials in at least the last 25 years.