Unless I missed it during yesterday’s January 6 Committee hearing, it should be noted that every single election worker and municipal clerk in this country takes an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Here in Wisconsin, our oath includes the Wisconsin Constitution as well. It’s worth repeating:
“I, ________, having been elected or appointed to the office of __________, swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin, and will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of said office to the best of my ability. So help me God.”
We take this oath very seriously. We are committed to serving our communities by helping our neighbors vote legally, safely, and without discomfort or stress. We volunteer because we want to help. I don’t know anyone who does it “for the money.” In fact, most of us are shocked when we find out that we actually get paid $12/hour for doing this service. Few, if any, sign up to push a political agenda. Yes, we have our political beliefs, but the vast majority of us check that at the door.
I say the vast majority because, currently, the Republican Party of Wisconsin is asking their members to become poll workers so that they can look for fraud. Not help people vote. Not serve their communities. Just look for and report cases of fraud. Wow. This will create a very different, potentially dangerous, voting environment.
The implications are terrifying. Most people, including new poll workers, have no clue how extensive the system of checks and balances is for voting. There are dozens of small but important tasks that need to done, boxes that need to be checked, ballots that need to be initialed, rules to be followed, etc. Most of us just hope that we don’t forget to do one of these tasks, especially when things get busy. In short, I and others are afraid that we’ll just screw up. Thankfully, at the end of the night, established procedures ensure that we catch these human errors.
My fear is that these new, Republican poll workers have only one priority: find fraud. While looking for fraud, they will care less about helping people vote, care less about serving their communities honorably, care less about upholding the Constitution.
Poll workers are at the front line of our democracy. Period. They didn’t sign up for harassment, threats, accusations of fraud, etc. They did not sign up to do a job that was potentially unsafe. We have no security systems in place. All voters are welcome to come in and carry out their constitutional duty to vote.
And we all took “The Oath.” That is the one thing, regardless of political party, that we all have in common.
So as you watch the January 6 Committee hearings, ask yourself who among the witnesses, live and recorded, took The Oath. Did Rudy? Did any of the numerous flunkies in Trump’s circle? I doubt it.
But poll workers? Poll workers like Shaye Moss and Lady Ruby? We all took The Oath. And we continue to take it very seriously.