2024 general election
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Op-Ed by John H. Merrill
As the 2024 general election is approaching, I have been asked these three questions about the elections process, and I thought I would share them with you.
- What about the coming election keeps you up at night?
I remember getting this question when I served as Alabama’s secretary of state and the 2020 election was approaching. Someone asked me what concerned me or kept me up at night, and my response at that time was “absolutely nothing.”
The reason for my response is that the day to begin preparing for the election is not October 17; it is August 17, April 17 and January 17, as you are preparing for the election that will take place, in this case, on November 5.
At that point in 2020, knowing that our team members were well trained and understood their job and that they were properly prepared to administer a successful election is why I was so confident in our ability to provide that service for the 4.9 million people in the State of Alabama.
Looking forward to two weeks from now, I can honestly say that one of the things that concerns me is whether or not all election officials are properly prepared, have been properly trained and are readily accepting their responsibility as election workers leading up to November 5 and continuing past election day through election certification.
If those things have not been done, it is too late for them to occur now. I hope that in all appropriate U.S. jurisdictions where the election occurs, that preparation has taken precedence over anything else as we hope for, expect and should demand a successful administration of the November 5 general election. It is too late now to enhance our election laws and procedures.
- What concern do you hear a lot that you think is overblown?
The fears that are introduced by individuals who are ill-informed or uneducated about the elections process tend to take on a life of their own. I believe that many of these fears could be mitigated if those individuals who believe they are so concerned about a successful administration in their jurisdiction actually offered their time and talents to election officials to be properly trained for observation and work assignments in the elections process.
If they dedicated as much time, energy and effort supporting the election apparatus in their jurisdiction as they do in demonstrating keyboard courage and trying to stir up false narratives about the elections process, I believe they would be more comfortable with the work that is being done and would ultimately see that the results are safe, secure and that the transparency in the process has been well demonstrated. But in most instances, personal involvement will be required to eliminate and alleviate those fears and concerns.
- What do you wish voters understood better about elections?
I wish voters understood the process better. Education and orientation only take place when an individual is more intimately involved in the administration of the election through proper education, training and participation in the direct administration of the process.
John H. Merrill served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2010-2014 and as Alabama’s 53rd secretary of state from 2015-2023.