Election denial is a lost cause.

Research into the 2022 vote shows that the fine will be somewhere between 2% and 7%, depending on the office.

In other words, Republicans who spread the Big Lie about massive fraud and a stolen 2020 election received significantly less support in the races for secretary of state, governor and Congress than Republicans who refused to engage in such silliness.

Well done, critical voters!

Liars like Kari Lake, who lost a bid for governor of Arizona by parroting former President Trump’s falsehoods and now hopes to muscle her way to a Senate seat, are only the most visible threat to our democratic system.

New research by a political reform group, Issue One, has given us something else to worry about: a disturbing exodus

of local election officials on the front lines fighting for truth, justice and the American approach.

In 11 Western states, including California, about 40% of top local election officials are new to the role since 2020, the study found.

In four states Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah the turnover is more than 50%.

Why is that important?

“It takes a long time to learn how to do what we do,” said Ryan Ronco, Placer County elections director and head of the California Assn. of clerks and election officials. Ronco worked in the district office for thirty years; 10 of his 15 staffers are new.

Holding safe and fair elections is not simply a matter of turning on the lights at the polling stations or backsliding

a letter opener through an envelope when ballots arrive by mail.

It requires, among countless responsibilities, learning to operate specialized voting machines, combating cybersecurity threats and, increasingly, going out in public to town hall meetings, election seminars and other venues to explain how election operations work.

“Ensuring that elections are accessible, secure and accurate requires trained, committed and knowledgeable people,” the Issue said

One report stated. “When local election officials leave these critical positions, the costs for institutional knowledge and election administration are real. Losing experienced people costs us in countless ways.”

That’s for sure.

If preserving and protecting the integrity of our election system doesn’t move you, consider the departure of experienced election professionals from a coldly calculated dollars-and-cents perspective. All that turnover comes at a price, requiring a new employee to be trained every time a more experienced election worker leaves.

Earlier reports had warned of an exodus of election officials as the threat from election conspirators grew. The latest study shows that this is now mainly happening in battleground states where election officials are the target of intimidation and death threats.

(There are thousands of key election officials in the United States. Number one limits the study to eleven Western states because the nonprofit can afford to, and the region includes two states that are likely to be quite competitive in 2024: Arizona and Nevada.)

It’s not hard to imagine a downward spiral in which less experienced workers botch an election, causing further doubts about the results and resulting in even more threats of violence, causing yet another mass exit of election workers.

But there are some encouraging signs.

In California, lawmakers have passed a bill

to extend the law protecting election officials from intimidation and interference to staff, temporary workers and poll workers. Government

Gavin

Newsom signed the legislation

Sunday.

At the federal level, prosecutors have stepped up cases against those who threaten or harass election officials.

“But we believe more needs to be done to keep them safe,” said Cory Combs, a spokesperson for Issue One. He said the group would like to see Congress pass “anti-doxing legislation” that would “help election officials keep sensitive personal information” such as their home address “open.”

The group is also seeking more federal funding to improve election security, replace outdated machines and technology, and recruit and train election workers.

Ronco, Placer County’s chief of elections, has a somewhat optimistic view.

Having lived through previous controversial campaigns, including 2004, when those on the left subsequently barked about an allegedly stolen election, he is hopeful that the current threat of danger will not become a permanent part of our politics.

“I can’t promise these times will pass,” Ronco said. “But I try to remind people that we have these cycles.”

Let us hope that the madness subsides, like a fever dream, with the resounding rejection, once and for all, of Trump and his devious imitators.

In the meantime, let’s push lawmakers in Congress and across the country to do everything they can to protect the workers who form the razor-thin line that keeps our electoral system alive and healthy.

The country depends on it.