By Sarah Michels for Carolina Public Press.
Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for North Carolina News Service reporting for the Rural News Network-Public News Service Collaboration

On Aug. 16, Pasquotank County found itself in crisis when elections director Emma Tate and deputy director Troy White resigned with little explanation less than three months before Election Day.

For three weeks, the Pasquotank Board of Elections and its sole remaining full-time employee, elections clerk Mary Morris, scrambled to fill the leadership vacuum.

On Sept. 6, 60 days before Election Day, Janae Hedgepeth was sworn in as the replacement director. While Hedgepeth previously worked as an elections official administrative assistant in Hertford County, this will be her first election at the helm.

Before her is a daunting task - lead a small team of elections officials through the wide variety of elections duties, which includes printing, proofing and mailing out absentee ballots, checking campaign finance reports, securing voting equipment, training poll workers, answering the public's questions and processing voter registrations - all on strict deadlines while learning the job in real time herself.

"I call it beautiful chaos," she said.

Hedgepeth is one of at least 30 elections directors in North Carolina's 100 counties who will oversee their first presidential election this year, according to State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell.

Many of these directors have been through at least one primary election or municipal election, but the 2024 general election brings new obstacles and a higher level of scrutiny and pressure.

In Pasquotank County, the deputy director position has not yet been filled. However, Hedgepeth isn't stuck on negativity, and neither are many of the other county elections directors in her position. Instead, in the face of a steep learning curve, they're leaning on the state and each other.

Hedgepeth said she likes the "hustle and bustle" of the job, and is getting the hang of things a few weeks after starting. The State Board of Elections is helping, which relieves some of the pressure, and other county elections directors have been more than willing to answer her questions.

Currituck County elections director Kimberly Twine, who started a week before the 2024 primary elections, gave some advice to new directors like Hedgepeth: "hold on tight and enjoy the ride."

NC directors prepare for first presidential election

South of Pasquotank County, Jessica Taylor is also getting used to her brand new job as Jones County elections director.

Taylor took over Sept. 16, 50 days before Election Day. She left her job as a tax administrator in Carteret County because she enjoys working in local government and saw the position as an opportunity to serve the community where she grew up.

She doesn't have specific elections experience, but Brinson Bell said that is becoming increasingly common among newer elections directors. There isn't a particular college degree that leads to working in elections, and as turnover rises nationwide, there's a smaller pool of qualified candidates to choose from, she said.

Brinson Bell now advises county boards to focus on finding people with skill sets like logistics, public relations, crisis management and critical thinking.

For example, Twine had a background in news, not elections, but she was used to long nights covering elections, meeting short deadlines, managing a lot of information, responding to the public and explaining complex processes, Brinson Bell said.

"I've had to have conversations with county board members that you may not find someone with elections experience, or very limited elections experience," she said.

Currituck County was "in full speed, in full election mode" when Twine started in January 2024.

"Walking in with little elections experience, it was challenging at times because the person at the time serving as the deputy director had not really ever had any training to take over the director's position, and she was not interested in the position, so we both basically were learning everything that we could together," Twine said.

"As stressful as it was, it was great in the sense that there was constant support from the state, both by phone and by email, but also in person."

While the State Board offers assistance by answering help desk questions from elections officials, constantly communicating updates and sending regional field support specialists for on-the-ground guidance, their resources are stretched thin.

"We can never be the solution," she said. "And that's what we often have to work with the county boards about, is identifying people who have worked, maybe as temps, or people who have been early voting workers (to help)."

In Jones County, that includes Jennifer King, the former elections director who has stayed on with the county in a different role where she oversees multiple departments.

Taylor said there are also "a wealth of online resources and tools" available, daily email communications with the State Board and weekly virtual meetings to share updates and resources. She's met with her region's field support specialist and peers from nearby Craven, Lenoir and Pamlico counties.

"I wouldn't say there are obstacles, just milestones and deadlines that must be met between now and Election Day," Taylor said. "...The Jones County Elections Office is very organized and I feel confident in our ability to provide an efficient and fair election process for our citizens."

Field support specialists step up, where they can

The weekend before Amanda Allen stepped into her role as Jackson County elections director, she worked a shift as a precinct official.

It was February, a week before this year's primary elections. Allen had been a precinct worker for years and worked her way up to chief judge.

"Just like when you transition into any other job, it's kind of like drinking from a fire hose. And even if you start before an election, until you experience it, you may not know exactly how it's going to be," she said.

In Jackson County, there was a second primary, so now, Allen is heading into her third election in seven months. She said she can never be prepared enough.

"Each one of them had unique circumstances, so I haven't had the chance to learn a consistent thing over and over again, because they've been different types of elections, different circumstances, different turnaround times, anticipated different volumes of voters," she said. "So I'm a little anxious because it's different, but I have had some of that training."

A key part of Allen's support system through her transition was John Noce, one of five field support specialists stationed across the state. Specialists support day-to-day operations in their assigned counties and make sure that counties are complying with federal and state law, administrative guidelines and best practices.

Each field support specialist covers about 20 counties, Brinson Bell said. They have elections experience and are responsible for providing support to county boards of election.

Noce, who covers 17 western North Carolina counties, said he takes phone calls and emails from county elections officials, visits them for regular check ins to see what they need, and at times, takes over when there is a vacancy.

"In my region, I have a lot of small counties, and so if someone in the office gets sick, it's typically a two person office, so the whole office gets sick," he said.

When that happens, or there's a prolonged vacancy, Noce fills in to "keep the lights on."

This year, he has three elections directors who will experience their first presidential election in this region: Jackson, Henderson and Swain counties. He said the new directors are "super sharp" and have caught on quickly.

"Of course, being new on a job, everything is an unknown," he said. "So I had to show them the reporting side of elections, the coding side of elections, getting the equipment set up and ready, basically going through the motions of an election and then loading the results ... and then we clear all that out and we're ready for Election Day and early voting."

Thankfully, Jackson and Swain are a half hour apart, so Noce can spend a morning at one office and the afternoon at the other. Henderson is about an hour and half away.

Swain County Elections Director Adam Byrnes began in May 2023, and has been through three smaller elections. He arrived at a time of change, with North Carolina's new voter ID law and broad elections laws Senate Bill 747 and Senate Bill 749.

Noce helped him acclimate, Byrnes said, and he feels like Swain County is in a "good place" right now.

Each election carries unique challenges. In 2020, it was COVID, Noce said. This year, it was the reprinting of absentee ballots after a successful court challenge by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. But somehow, it always seems to work out in the end.

"The people that work in elections are just so adaptable and just roll with the punches, and they do what needs to be done," Noce said. "It's so impressive, and I just wish the public knew what they go through to put on an election. I think they'd look a lot kinder on us if they knew the inside details."

In 2020, North Carolina hired eight field support specialists, responsible for about 12 counties each. But since, the Help America Vote Act funds that supported the roles have decreased, and the North Carolina state legislature has not authorized enough funding to support eight positions, Brinson Bell said.

At one point, the state was down to four field support specialists, but has since found a way to fund six. However, the State Board has been unable to fill the sixth position, which would cover the north east region, including Pasquotank County.

"It's definitely more challenging with the short staff that we have, but we do the best we can," Noce said.

Byrnes said that more funding for the State Board would help them get new directors on track, including by hiring more field support specialists.

"The State Board staff has diminished from what it was four years ago," he said. "They just don't have the budget they used to have, so it's a little tougher to lean on the state, but they do still have some really great people there who will be able to help."

As turnover increases, elections directors get newer

Emma Tate was the 63rd election director to leave in the past five years, Brinson Bell said. It's one example in an ongoing, national turnover trend in elections directors.

A Carolina Public Press investigation found that turnover was tied to low pay.

Noce said he felt the first shift after the 2016 election, and an even faster "rush of turnover" since 2020.

"I think there's just been so many changes to election laws, so many procedural changes," he said. "At some point, it probably gets overwhelming."

But the new directors are up to the challenge.

Twine said she is excited for her first big election.

"I think that by no means do I feel like I know everything, because I don't think that if someone's in the position for 10, 20 years, you're not going to know everything, because every election is different," she said. "So, I feel more confident certainly having these first two behind me."

Back in Pasquotank County, county commissioners agreed to provide an extra $11,000 in local funds to support election efforts. They also approved advancing a planned salary increase for full time elections positions, which applied to new director Hedgepeth.

Columbus County Elections Director Ashley Collins started on Oct. 15, 2022, less than a month before the midterm elections. Her advice to new directors is to remember that everything normally falls into place.

"You just have to stay persistent in making sure that you're taking care of the simple things or the small tasks to be able to complete or do," she said. "But nothing that you will do has not been done by somebody else before."


This story was originally produced by Sarah Michels of Carolina Public Press as part of the Rural News Network, an initiative of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), supporting more than 475 independent, nonprofit news organizations.


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Lawmakers in Annapolis plan to introduce a bill to require a special election if a lawmaker is appointed to a seat in the first half of their term.

Maryland's constitution requires the political party committee in the district the former lawmaker represented to pick a replacement to fill the seat. The recommendation then is sent to the governor, who usually approves the person.

Del. Linda Foley, D-Montgomery County, the sponsor of the bill, said voters are sometimes represented by an appointed lawmaker for as long as four years.

"You end up with a rather large percentage of the General Assembly then being appointed and not elected and not facing the voters," Foley pointed out. "This has been an ongoing debate about whether this is a democratic way to replace people."

Nearly a quarter of state legislators in Maryland, including Foley, started in the legislature by political appointment, rather than an election.

The bill would not do away with the appointment process entirely. State legislators serve four-year terms, running in midterm elections. An appointment would be made, though any lawmaker appointed in the first half of the term would have to run in a special election held during the Presidential primary and general elections.

Foley emphasized the bill is not meant to fill every vacancy with a special election, a process she said would be costly.

"There is a cost factor to holding elections all the time and it's not insubstantial," Foley acknowledged. "Not to say that you can put a price on democracy, but you do have to consider what's the cost of doing this. Two years in office without having to face the voters isn't as problematic as four."


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By Marilyn Odendahl for The Indiana Citizen.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Indiana Citizen-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration.

For St. Joseph County Circuit Court Clerk Amy Rolfes, the statistics only confirmed what she had been seeing and hearing from voters in the days and weeks leading into the Nov. 5 election.

Nearly 59,000 registered voters in the Northern Indiana county cast a ballot either by mail or by going to the polls before Election Day, topping the number of voters who visited the polls on Nov. 5 by more than 5,000.

However, Rolfes already knew early voting was popular by the public's reaction to St. Joseph County's third early-voting site that was opened this year for the first time. The new polling place was opened two weeks before the general election in Center Township's public library, located in the southern portion of the county.

The site was busy every single day it was operating, Rolfes said, and voters were thanking the staff giving them a convenient place to vote.

"Clearly the voters have spoken," Rolfes said. "They enjoy early voting."

The final vote tallies from the November election show the popularity of early voting was similar across the state to what Rolfes saw in St. Joseph County. According to data from the Indiana Secretary of State, 1.6 million eligible Hoosier voters - 54% of all who cast a ballot in the 2024 general election - voted either absentee or in person prior to Election Day. Comparatively, 1.87 million registered Indiana voters - 61% of those who voted - went to the polls early in the 2020 general election.

Despite the early voting numbers, Indiana's overall voter participation slipped this year. The secretary of state reported that 4.84 million Hoosiers were registered to vote in November, which is 86,085 more than were registered in November 2020. However 2.97 million, or 61%, voted in the 2024 general election, which is 94,349 fewer than the 3.07 million, or 65%, who voted four years ago.

Julia Vaughn, executive director of Common Cause Indiana, said she is disappointed that lawmakers are not doing more to improve the state's voter turnout numbers. Changes that would enable more Hoosiers to vote include same day voter registration, extending voting hours, and prohibiting candidates and their supporters from being any closer than, at least, 100 feet from the entrance of a polling site on Election Day.

"That's frustrating when clearly we have a big problem with turnout and zero problems in term of (election) security, yet our policymakers continue to make voting more restrictive in the name of making it more secure," Vaughn said. "We should be opening it up in the name of getting more people involved."

Demand continues for early voting

Like St. Joseph County, Clark County in Southern Indiana opened another early voting site for the November election.

Clark County Circuit Court Clerk Ryan Lynch said the second polling place, at the R.E.M.C. building along U.S. 60, was a more convenient option for voters in the middle and northern parts of the county. They did not have to travel to the courthouse in downtown Jeffersonville to vote.

Lynch said he believes the additional polling location motivated more people to vote early. Although the 22,522 voters in Clark County who voted either by mail or in-person before Election Day was down from the 28,666 who cast an early ballot in 2020, he does not expect interest in early voting to wither.

"I think we should definitely plan for big turnouts for early voting and put more resources into that to be prepared," Lynch said.

After the Marion County Election Board voted against extending early voting by two hours in the morning, Marion County Circuit Court Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell kept the polling site in the City County Building open until 10 p.m. the Saturday and Sunday before the Nov. 5 election. She said she added hours in the evening to make voting more convenient and had noticed that individuals who voted in the evening were wearing uniforms, indicating they were shift workers in hospitals, law enforcement agencies and private companies.

"It worked," Sweeney Bell said, but she did not commit to extending the hours in future elections.

In Marion County, 165,186, or 46% of registered voters, cast an absentee or early ballot in 2024. That was down from the 215,931, or 55% of registered voters, who voted before Election Day in 2020.

Not only were Hoosiers voting early this year, but they were, apparently, seeking answers to their voting questions sooner.

Ami Gandhi, director of strategic initiatives and the Midwest Voting Rights Program at the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, said during the early-voting period, more Indiana voters were calling the 866-OUR-VOTE election protection hotline the CLCCR established. Also, they were calling before the voter registration deadline passed and before absentee voting began.

"Across the board, we heard from voters in many different parts of the state who have an interest in expanded access to early voting, including voters who wanted more locations in their county (and) voters who were seeking expanded hours and who were shocked, and at times upset, by the relative early end time to early voting on any given day," Gandhi said.

A 'chilling impact,' low turnout

Wells and Whitely counties recorded the highest turnout rates in Indiana at 73% each in November. Marion and St. Joseph counties tallied the lowest turnout rates in the state at 55% each.

Sweeney Bell was disappointed by her county's low turnout. She said the first hour the polls were open on Election Day, about 40,000 people voted in Marion County; however, the rush of voters that usually comes between 4 and 6 p.m. never materialized.

"I'm baffled when people have such power and choose not the exercise it," Sweeney Bell said, adding that voting is essentially asking people who they want making the decisions that will affect every part of their lives. She said she is disappointed and not sure why people chose to stay home, rather than go vote.

"If I knew why, I could do something about it," Sweeney Bell said.

Rolfes tried to encourage voting in St. Joseph County by producing a couple of educational videos. She was allowed to use the local public television station's studio for an hour and half and she made four "super nerdy" videos, providing instruction on such things as voting by mail and using the voting machine to cast a ballot.

"Voting information is key to increasing voter turnout," Rolfes said.

Vaughn, of Common Cause Indiana, said she believes some new voters and naturalized citizens did not go to the polls this year because of the claim by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales about noncitizens voting in state elections. The two elected officials announced a few weeks before the Nov. 5 election, that they had asked the federal government to verify the citizenship status of 585,774 individuals on Indiana's voting rolls.

Calling the move by Rokita and Morales a "political stunt," Vaughn alleged the whole point of creating the list and the making announcement was to have a "chilling impact" to discourage people from voting. She said the election protection hotline did not get any calls from individuals who had their citizenship status challenged when they tried to vote, but some new voters did call the CLCCR hotline with concerns about causing trouble if they cast a ballot.

"How widespread that (was), I can't really say, but we, at least, heard from a few people and I've done this long enough to know when you get a few calls, there are many more people who didn't call," Vaughn said. "They just stayed home."

Intimidation incidents rising on Election Day

Along with Indiana voters asking for the location of their polling place and what they should do if the poll book does not have them listed as a registered voter, Gandhi said the election protection hotline also received calls about voter intimidation and aggressive electioneering at some polling places.

Reports of intimidation included Hamilton County, where a group of individuals were standing outside a polling place waving Make America Great Again flags and harassing voters, according to CLCCR and Vaughn.

Sweeney Bell said in Marion County, poll worker training was updated to include de-escalation techniques. The additional instruction was in response to the false rhetoric about insufficient election security and ineligible voting, she said.

"I have no worries about the security of the ballot," Sweeney Bell said. "I worry about the security of the poll workers."

That training appears to have helped defuse an incident at a Marion County polling place that is still being investigated and could result in criminal charges. According to Sweeney Bell and Vaughn, a man became belligerent and shouted profanities, after he was told he had to remove his Make America Great Again hat and turn his T-shirt, which identified a specific candidate, inside out. The man took off his shirt, revealing he was carrying two guns and a knife. The police were called and the poll workers were able to get the man through the voting process as quickly as possible so he left with harming anyone.

Sweeney Bell said a report detailing what happened is still being compiled. The Marion County Election Board is scheduled to meet Dec. 12, she said, and the members will talk about the incident.

"I don't think it's over," Sweeney Bell said.

In Clark County, Lynch said poll workers at one voting site were also able to defuse a situation on Election Day. Someone came to the polling place and wanted to sit and watch the machine that tabulates all the ballots. The workers at the site enlisted help from the clerk's office and the staff was able to mitigate the situation so the individual left and police did not have to be called, he said.

Vaughn said the misinformation and intimidation has gotten "exponentially worse" since 2016. Indiana's laws do not provide much protection or prevention of escalating situations, she said, noting the state allows people to electioneer within 50 feet of the polling place, one of the shortest distances in the country, and while the state permits voting sites to restrict weapons and post signs, the statute has no teeth, so officials can do little if anyone violates the restrictions.

"People (are) being very hostile to voters who they perceive to be making different choices from them," Vaughn said. "Hoosiers need to practice a lot more tolerance during election season than we have been. It just seems to be getting worse each presidential election year. We desperately need somebody to bring the temperature down."


Marilyn Odendahl wrote this article for The Indiana Citizen.


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As 2025 begins, there will be a record number of women serving in state legislatures nationwide.

More than 2,400 women will hold state legislative offices, representing more than 33%. Maine ranks ninth in the nation for statehouse gender parity with women holding 43% of seats.

Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, is pleased the trend is moving in the right direction.

"We need to see bigger jumps in terms of the numbers of women running and then getting elected in order to get closer to parity," Sinzdak pointed out. "We're certainly making progress but there's a ways to go."

Sinzdak explained when women run for office, they win, and it is good for democracy. She noted research shows women are more likely to build consensus among lawmakers and work across the aisle.

The election of Republican Kelly Ayotte as New Hampshire's next governor means a record 13 women will serve as a state chief executive next year, including Maine Gov. Janet Mills. Sinzdak argued the women serve as role models for other women to run for public office but cautioned recruitment efforts for women candidates are still lacking.

She acknowledged caregiving responsibilities often prevent women from running, along with the double standard they face from the public.

"Voters want them to be likeable as well as tough," Sinzdak observed. "Whereas for a lot of male candidates, they don't necessarily need to be likable they just need to be seen as being able to do the job."

Sinzdak emphasized women bring their unique life experiences to the job. In Maine, women lawmakers were instrumental in passing the state's new Paid Family and Medical Leave program and codifying reproductive freedoms into law. Still, the gains for women in statehouses nationwide come as Vice President Kamala Harris failed in her effort to become the first woman president.

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


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