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2. Extend privacy protections to election workers

Threats to election workers recently have frequently taken the form of their personal information – like their home addresses – being published, or encouragement to intimidate and harass election workers and their families at their homes. To protect election workers against these threats, existing privacy protections would be explicitly extended to persons performing official duties in elections. This provision would make it unlawful to knowingly make personal information of an election official or their family public with the intent of harassment. A Minnesota bill, for example, creates civil and criminal penalties for disseminating an election worker’s personal information. Some proposed state bills would also add digital privacy protections for election officials.

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For a more detailed analysis of existing federal laws and proposed legislation that may shield election workers from threats and harassment, see the Congressional Research Service’s December 21, 2021, report on Election Worker Safety and Privacy and Appendix C.

The Case For

Given that many threats now come in the form of disclosing election workers’ personal information, supporters argue that this specific protection is necessary to ensure that election workers can be recruited and retained so that we have secure and accurate elections.

The Case Against

Opponents make the same argument that it is better to leave these matters to the states since they are charged with conducting elections. They also observe that states are already working on expanding their privacy protections.