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Election officials urge privacy protections after increased harassment; committee hears SB82 testimony
Summary
David Payne, deputy director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, testified in favor of Senate Bill 82 to classify election officials for public-records protections, citing threats, harassment and security briefings from law enforcement and Homeland Security.
David Payne, deputy director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, testified at a second hearing of Senate Bill 82 that expanding public-records protections for election officials is a reasonable, bipartisan step to improve staff safety amid increased harassment and threats.
"I have said it before and I will say it again. It's only by the grace of God that we have avoided an actual physical violence against our election officials," Payne told the Senate General Government Committee, describing threats, photographing and an incident in which a staff member was spat upon while assisting a voter.
Payne provided staffing and voter figures for Franklin County to illustrate the scale of operations: 889,000 registered voters, 52 full-time board employees (26 Republicans and 26 Democrats) and about 50 part-time seasonal employees. He said the county regularly receives security briefings from the Columbus Police Department, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
Payne said boards of elections increasingly receive aggressive behavior from voters and campaigners and that inflammatory public claims that elections are stolen can place staff at risk. He said some election officials across the state have declined to continue working elections because of safety concerns. Payne described recent public claims about stolen elections as "irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric" that can have real consequences for staff safety.
SB82 would add election officials to the list of public-service workers whose residential and familial information could be withheld from public records for security reasons, Payne said. He described the bill as "a step in the right direction" and said he had heard no opposition from election officials when he discussed the measure.
The committee heard Payne's in-person testimony and had written-only testimony from Common Cause Ohio on file; no committee vote occurred during the second hearing.
