Vacant and newly filled clerk jobs are a concern ahead of Maine’s primary elections

A number of Maine cities and cities are hurrying to rent their high election official because the June 14 primaries strategy, making an attempt to fill vacancies left by individuals who retired, took new jobs or give up within the wake of harassment and false accusations following the 2020 election.

State officers are involved about shortages of election employees. A minimum of three municipalities need to fill clerk positions and several other extra are hiring deputy clerks, although some neighborhood officers mentioned they have been assured they’d have somebody in time for the primaries.

City and metropolis clerks are the spine of Maine elections. They register voters, oversee election day and report outcomes to the Secretary of State. 

In addition they acquired the brunt of harassment from false allegations of voter fraud that spilled out of the 2020 election, which considerably modified the work local weather and public belief of their jobs, mentioned a number of clerks with a long time of expertise. On common, appointed clerks have been paid $47,000 a 12 months in 2021, although numbers assorted broadly between cities, in keeping with a survey of salaries by the Maine Municipal Affiliation.

“It isn’t unprecedented to should scramble to coach a brand new clerk, who’s beginning near Election Day, and our state election officers are standing by to supply assist to any cities that have transitions near the first,” mentioned Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. “We additionally know that skilled clerks routinely can be found to supply assist to cities which might be having to scramble on the final minute.”

Locations like Dallas Plantation, a city of 300 residents, and Portland, a metropolis of 68,400, discover themselves in the identical predicament within the weeks earlier than the first. Each have clerks who wish to retire and try to rent a brand new one to supervise their native elections.

David Schinas, 61, notified Dallas Plantation officers on April 11 that he intends to retire as clerk within the city tucked away close to Saddleback and Sugarloaf mountains. The city was interviewing candidates final week — simply 4 weeks from the first.

“I’ll most likely assist the brand new individual, for certain, through the election simply in order that they’re not stepping into considerably blind,” mentioned Schinas, who anticipated somebody can be employed earlier than June.

Portland, the biggest metropolis in Maine, is on its second try at discovering a brand new metropolis clerk. 

After an unsuccessful search did “not get certified candidates,” the job was opened once more, mentioned town’s communication director, Jessica Grondin. The job posting attracted two new candidates, who appeared certified, she mentioned. A clerk to switch Katherine Jones, who plans to retire after the first election, shall be chosen by a metropolis search committee.

Looking for certified clerk candidates is frequent throughout the state. 

Within the city of Surry, a coastal neighborhood close to Acadia Nationwide Park, native leaders have been interviewing candidates for its vacant place. Candidates had “various ranges of {qualifications},” mentioned Eric Treworgy, the chairman of the Surry Board of Selectmen.

The city tax collector is certified to run the election as a “backstop” in case they can’t make a hiring determination earlier than June 14, Treworgy mentioned. It’s extra necessary for the city to search out somebody who suits its customer-focused tradition, he mentioned.

In Passadumkeag, in the meantime, the city clerk has resigned, successfully shutting down the city’s authorities, the Bangor Day by day Information reported final week. Christen Bouchard had been saddled with quite a lot of different obligations on the city, situated about 30 miles north of Bangor.

Inside shuffling of staff inside the Augusta metropolis authorities left Kelly Gooldrup, town clerk, to fill three clerk jobs up to now a number of months. Two of these positions have a direct position in working the election on the capital metropolis’s 4 voting places.

There’s a scarcity of certified candidates to fill open clerk jobs in municipal governments, Gooldrup mentioned. Many functions town acquired got here from individuals with no related municipal expertise, she mentioned. 

Coaching new clerks has taken time from making ready for the election, she mentioned.

“While you’re sort of all the way down to the wire preparing for an election, you’re hoping to get any person that’s skilled as a result of they don’t have a variety of time to coach,” Gooldrup mentioned. “That’s the place we fell.”

‘We have been threatened’

Clerks with years of expertise are leaving municipal work altogether due to heightened public stress following current elections.

Heidi-Noel Grindle, who labored as town clerk for Ellsworth close to Acadia Nationwide Park for 15 years, left final November due to the stress of overseeing the election, harassment from members of the neighborhood and worry that any error may land town on newspaper entrance pages.

Most individuals within the metropolis handled the clerk’s workplace nice, she mentioned. However a number of residents a day would randomly make false claims that she was shredding ballots or visiting nursing houses and telling individuals find out how to fill out their ballots, Grindle mentioned.

There have been additionally “unnerving” conditions. She recalled a person recording election employees whereas refusing to say why he was there. Grindle mentioned she frightened that she wouldn’t be capable of discover individuals to workers town’s voting places and the stress made her arms tingle at instances. She now works within the personal sector.

“It’s an setting that makes some individuals assume twice about whether or not to have interaction in public service as an election employee,” mentioned Secretary of State Bellows.

To alleviate some pressure on election employees, the Maine City and Metropolis Clerks’ Affiliation helped move laws this 12 months that makes it a Class D misdemeanor when anybody “deliberately interferes by power, violence or intimidation” with an official working a federal, state or municipal election. Gov. Janet Mills signed the invoice into legislation in April.

A crucial component of the brand new legislation are necessities that the Secretary of State’s workers provides de-escalation coaching for clerks and coaching on find out how to report threats so the state can maintain higher knowledge on violent incidents. The hope is the legislation will deter violent and threatening habits. 

Previous to the passage of the legislation, the clerk for Kittery, Karen Estee, described to the state Legislature the harassment her workplace had acquired.

“We have been threatened, known as voter suppressors, murderers and my favourite, Nazis,” Estee wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “Myself and my workers and all my different election employees work very, very arduous for months to carry trustworthy elections.”

Safe elections

Harmless errors and misinformation in regards to the integrity of elections throughout the nation has shifted the local weather that clerks work in right now, mentioned Waterville Metropolis Clerk Patti Dubois, who has been a clerk for greater than 20 years.

“Years in the past, individuals possibly didn’t perceive the method but it surely was simple to clarify it, and also you have been a trusted official,” Dubois mentioned. “Most individuals didn’t actually query the election officers very a lot. They trusted they knew what they have been doing and doing the correct issues.”

Some voters’ frustration and confusion with elections comes from the mail. Partisan and nonpartisan teams will usually mail absentee poll functions to residents, Dubois mentioned. The clerk’s workplace will solely mail one poll to voters who return a accomplished absentee poll request kind, however residents who obtain a number of functions typically worry that individuals will get a number of ballots, which they gained’t.

A number of individuals this 12 months additionally acquired mail saying they wanted to register to vote, regardless that that they had signed up, she mentioned. Dubois was capable of confirm voter registrations for the individuals who known as however has no thought how many individuals didn’t name.

“We completely have the solutions, however a variety of instances they don’t come to us. They both simply say it to their neighbors, or somebody will name and say, ‘Properly they instructed me that my poll wasn’t going to rely,’ ” Dubois mentioned. “Properly, who’s ‘they?’ Who have you ever been speaking to?’ “

Some voters simply don’t just like the state’s legislation, she mentioned. Maine doesn’t require voters to indicate ID on the polls. There may be additionally a really particular course of, outlined in state legislation, on how and when a clerk could take away a voter from the rolls, even when neighbors know a voter has moved, Dubois mentioned. (It’s a Class C felony for an individual so as to add, delete, alter or cancel info within the state’s central voter registration system in the event that they don’t have any proper to vary the data).

All of those guidelines are there to safeguard an election — not undermine it. 

“The elections are run so technically and so exactly that I really feel that they’re safer now than they’ve ever been. A part of the issue, I believe, throughout the nation is that legal guidelines fluctuate from state to state so far as early voting, mail voting, absentee voting, what the foundations are round them, provisional ballots — individuals hear about one thing in one other state and so they assume that one thing related is right here, ” Dubois mentioned.

“We are able to’t converse to what occurs in different states, however I do know that right here in Maine, elections are utterly safe.”