Democracy is the bedrock upon which our republic maintains its pulse and ultimately survives. The ingenuity of our founders to create a document incorporating principles that led to the development and realization of the greatest nation civilization has known, and which still reverberate so significantly today in our political discourse, is remarkable. This vision saw a country that enslaved human beings based on the color of their skin transition to one that embraces multiculturalism and increasingly measures one’s worth by their contributions rather than their socioeconomic status.

While this vision requires regular maintenance and collective engagement by our citizenry in pursuit of a more perfect Union, it is something I continually see on the horizon, even amid willful attempts to attain the contrary. One of the core tenets that keeps our democracy thriving, and without which we cease to exist in our current form, is the right of every eligible citizen to access the ballot box.

As a citizen who has dedicated my career to nonpartisan election administration on behalf of North Carolinians, this right, and the ability to exercise it, is more important than ever. Election administrators have a responsibility not only to facilitate honest, fair, and accurate election administration, but also to create an environment where voters and election workers feel safe and secure while fulfilling their respective civic duties.

Preparing for the 2026 General Election

In Durham County, our preparation for the 2026 General Election began long before the first ballot was mailed. Like election officials across thousands of jurisdictions throughout the country, we are registering voters, conducting list maintenance, testing voting systems, recruiting and training poll workers, and onboarding and supervising the temporary employees needed to execute critical administrative functions.

We facilitate public meetings in accordance with law and in support of process transparency; proof ballots; perform jurisdictional audits to ensure voters receive the correct ballot; distribute absentee-by-mail ballots; process in-person early voters; conduct community outreach to provide constituents with accurate information and dispel misinformation; perform audit and reconciliation activities; facilitate facility tours and open houses for those who may be skeptical about election integrity; and much more.

These tasks require a significant investment of time, extraordinary attention to detail, and little room for error. We perform this work knowing that the public intensely watches our every move. This is scrutiny that we expect and support, provided those observations do not impede the execution of our statutory duties.

Our preparation also extends well beyond the mechanics of administering an election. In response to an increasingly complex threat environment involving election officials and election infrastructure, we have developed robust continuity of operations and emergency response plans. This work includes collaborating with federal, state, and local partners to assess our threat environment and conducting tabletop exercises designed to simulate responses to cybersecurity incidents, voter intimidation, disruptions to voting operations, and potential interference from foreign and domestic actors.

In Durham County, these coordinated efforts have led to the implementation of election-official and supply tracking; the issuance of alert badges to voting-site leadership to allow for discreet notification to law enforcement in the event of an incident; activation of our emergency response center to support in-person early voting and Election Day operations; an unarmed security presence at polling places; and coordination with local law enforcement to provide increased patrols of polling places to deter potential unlawful activity.

These preparations are not intended to make the voting experience intimidating or inaccessible, but rather the opposite. They are intended to ensure that voters can exercise their rights and election workers can perform their duties in an environment that is safe, orderly, and secure.

What Are Voters Asking?

As we conduct this work, voters continue to raise concerns that we have an obligation to answer and alleviate where possible. Four questions, in particular, recur in the correspondence I receive.

“Will I receive my absentee ballot given the recent litigation involving proposed United States Postal Service rules regarding absentee ballots?”

As an election official in the first state in the country to distribute absentee ballots for the 2026 General Election, I can say that we have mailed hundreds of absentee ballots without issue, and hundreds have already been successfully returned and processed for consideration by our governing Board. Based on the evidence before us and extensive conversations with our dedicated Postal Service workers, branch managers, district supervisors, and others, I remain confident in our ability to serve absentee-by-mail voters. We will continue closely monitoring the process throughout the election.

“Will my ballot count?”

If you are an eligible voter and cast your ballot in accordance with your state’s laws, your ballot will be counted. For any voter who is unsure about the status of their ballot, I encourage you to contact your local election office or use the ballot-tracking resources available in your state. We are here to support you and ensure you have confidence that your sacred vote is treated with the same care with which you cast it.

“What are you going to do to ensure the election is not stolen?”

We are going to do what we always do: administer elections in an honest, fair, and accurate manner consistent with the laws of our state. Election officials will confirm voter eligibility and reconcile results, conduct required post-election audits, hand-count selected ballots to verify the accuracy of tabulated results, evaluate provisional ballots in accordance with law, and complete the canvass and certification processes required before results become official.

These safeguards exist so that election results are not merely announced, but verified under public observation.

“This has to be an incredibly stressful job. We appreciate your work, but why do you do it?”

For country. To preserve our foundational principles and keep us in perpetual pursuit of a more perfect Union as desired by our founders. This is the common thread that links election officials together: a collective desire to maintain the system that makes us great, democracy.

Closing Remarks

Alexander Hamilton once wrote:

“A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in the estimation of the law.”

More than two centuries later, those words continue to capture the significance of the responsibility entrusted to election officials and the citizens we serve.

Onward and upward to the thousands of election officials across the country. You are foundational democracy defenders, known by few, but heroes to many.