Desde 2020, miles de trabajadores electorales han sido amenazados, escupidos o acosados en los EE. UU., por lo que mañana el Comité Judicial del Senado estatal escuchará un proyecto de ley que les permite ocultar su dirección de la vista del público.

El Proyecto de Ley del Senado 1131 permitiría a los trabajadores electorales unirse al programa Safe at Home, el cual se creó hace 20 años para dificultar que los perpetradores de violencia doméstica localicen a sus víctimas.

Kim Alexander es presidenta y fundadora de California Voter Foundation, y copatrocinadora del proyecto de ley.

"Todavía hay una cantidad de personas que no creen en los resultados de las elecciones y hacen afirmaciones falsas sobre el robo de las elecciones, y los funcionarios electorales y su personal son los receptores de la gran mentira," asegura Alexander.

SB 1131 también cambia una antigua ley estatal que requería que los nombres de los trabajadores electorales se publicaran en los lugares de votación. El proyecto de ley ya fue aprobado por unanimidad en el Comité de Elecciones del Senado. A continuación, se dirige al comité de asignaciones presupuestarias.

Alexander dice que el 15% de los votantes registrados en el condado del Golden State dejaron sus trabajos después de la última contienda presidencial.

"Los funcionarios electorales tienen exceso de trabajo, falta de personal, están mal pagados y ahora se encuentran bajo ataque," afirma Alexander.

El Centro Brennan para la Justicia, otro copatrocinador de este proyecto de ley, realizó recientemente una encuesta nacional de casi 600 funcionarios electorales. Alexander señala que uno de cada seis informó haber sido amenazada o amenazado por su trabajo.

"Más de la mitad informó estar preocupado por la seguridad de sus colegas," dice Alexander. Más de una de cada cuatro está preocupada por ser agredida en el trabajo y el 20% planea dejar sus trabajos antes de las elecciones de 2024."

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.




get more stories like this via email

With the election six weeks away, concern is building about attempts to intimidate voters at the polls - so, lawmakers are taking action at the state and federal levels.

On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the PEACE Act, which makes California the first state in the nation to state explicitly that openly carrying a gun in or near a polling place constitutes illegal harassment.

Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program for the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice, said the measure is important.

"It represents some really commonsense principles. All voters, all election workers, should be able to participate and run our democracy free from intimidation. And visible guns around our elections are intimidating," he said.

A recent survey of election workers from the Brennan Center found that 40% report being subject to threats, abuse, or harassment.

On Wednesday, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., introduced a bill to ban open carry of firearms in polling places nationwide - noting the country has a long history of scare tactics on Election Day.

"There's individuals out there, stoked by partisan rhetoric and false narratives about election fraud, that have taken it upon themselves to either discourage at a minimum, or sometimes outright intimidate people into not letting their voice be heard in the democratic process," Padilla said.

Both political parties plan to have poll watchers present this year. The Brennan Center has set up a hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE for people to report any efforts to intimidate voters or election workers.


get more stories like this via email

Illinois voters have several ways to cast their ballot in the upcoming election, whether by mail, in person or early voting.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a political watchdog, reported 2022's general election produced the second-highest voter turnout in a midterm year in 25 years.

Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections, wants voters to observe important deadlines for registering to vote. For unregistered voters, he advised there is still time to change their status.

"Voter registration never closes until the polls close on Election Day," Dietrich pointed out. "You can get registered from now right up through and even on November 5th. The online voter registration stays open until 11:59 pm, October 20th."

Voter inquiries can be answered through an online portal on the board's website, elections.il.gov.

Beginning Oct. 9, unregistered voters wanting in-person voting can do so at any early voting location. Dietrich added they will have to cast their early vote ballot at the time of registration.

Two forms of verifiable identification are needed, one which reflects who you are and the other, your voting residence. If you have recently moved to Illinois from another state, an unexpired out-of-state driver's license is accepted. A piece of government mail sent to your residence, a bank statement, or a pay stub with your voting residence is also sufficient.

Another popular choice among Illinoisans is to vote by mail. There was a "slight uptick of 10%," Dietrich reported, even before the pandemic in 2020. He added 2 million people tried it for the first time and deemed the process as safe, convenient and trackable.

"We and all the local election authorities really pushed voting by mail for safety reasons," Dietrich explained. "In the end, we had one-third of the total votes in 2020, cast by mail, about one-third cast early in person and one-third cast on Election Day in person."

Dietrich said in 2022, voting by mail slightly exceeded the number of voters who were voting early in person. He recommends residents wanting to cast mail-in ballots request their ballot far before the Oct. 31 deadline.

New Mexico volunteers will test the "butterfly effect" this Saturday as they perform small actions meant to produce monumental change.

Civic and nonprofit groups have enlisted volunteers to help plant food for monarch butterflies and other pollinators in the Bosque, a cottonwood forest bordering the Rio Grande. Organizers said the area's lush grass meadows and native milkweeds make it the perfect launchpad to expand pollinator habitat.

Emily Rees, Southwest restoration ecologist at the Institute for Applied Ecology, said teams will plant more than a thousand native perennial plants grown from wild-collected seeds.

"The overall project is 16 sites along a 200-mile stretch of the Rio Grande from north of Taos all the way down to Socorro," Rees outlined. "We are planting seven of those this year, and then we'll do the additional nine next year."

Rees pointed out New Mexico's 300-mile Bosque, which means "woods" or "forest" in Spanish, provides an oasis of valuable resources for animals and plants living in an otherwise arid Southwest habitat. To prepare for the event, the City of Albuquerque has been selectively removing invasive, non-native tree species in the planting area.

Monarch butterfly populations are declining in the U.S. and worldwide because of habitat loss.

Rees believes there is still a lot to learn about the Rio Grande's role in their New Mexico migration.

"It is very charismatic," Rees observed. "People really recognize monarchs but by restoring the habitat for monarchs we're also able to enhance that habitat for other pollinators as well."

Monarchs are not currently on the federal Endangered Species list but by one estimate their numbers declined in 2024 by 30% from the previous year. The Xerces Society said the overwintering population of western monarchs remains at approximately 5% of its size in the 1980s.


get more stories like this via email