Secretaries of State Reflect on 2024 Elections and Democracy’s Future
Following the 2024 election, NewDEAL had conversations with five forward-thinking secretaries of state to discuss the lessons learned, as well as their views on the current state and future of democracy in the United States. The resulting document, Election Reflections: Democracy in 2025 and the Path Forward, offered unique insight into their preparations for the monumental election and what threats still loom for future elections.
Following the violence of the 2020 election, culminating in the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, states around the country spent years preparing for the 2024 election. And that preparation paid off with a safe, secure, high-turnout election. Yet it’s critical “that we don’t rest on our laurels,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. Elected officials must remain vigilant regarding potential attacks on our democracy while addressing legitimate concerns about where our democracy is headed. In the end, most secretaries remain optimistic about the state of American democracy.
Here are five key quotes, taken from more than two dozen in the full document, that encapsulate the thoughts from five secretaries of state about these critical issues:
“When it comes to our preparation, the proof is in the pudding. Voters participated at record-breaking levels. We saw 5.7 million Michigan citizens cast a ballot, which is almost 80 percent turnout. Among them, more than half — 3.4 million people — voted early. We’re in a new era of voting — not just in our state but elsewhere. Options to vote are key. When you give citizens the option to vote at their convenience, whether by mail or at an early voting site, many embrace them. And then some still choose to vote on Election Day.”
- Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State, on preparation.
“Every state needs to be ready for the absolute worst. And the best. We were not tested nationwide with massive AI-generated misinformation. Our laws regarding fake elector schemes and threatening or doxxing elections workers were not tested. But that does not mean it’s not coming. For example, AI technology is growing very quickly, and we must be concerned not only about misinformation, but also cyber attacks. At the same time, AI can be utilized to help protect elections. This past election was a good year to remind people of a lot of the risks that are evolving in the election space.”
- Jena Griswold, Colorado Secretary of State, on vigilance.
“Looking ahead for the next few years, one of my biggest concerns is the exhaustion that many people are feeling with the circus and the mis- and disinformation. I worry that people otherwise very engaged, very smart, very capable, will just say, ‘I can’t handle it. I don’t want to listen to the news.’ Disengaging, I think, puts us on a really dangerous path.”
- Tobias Read, Oregon Secretary of State, on concerns.
“We need to reexamine our definition of civic engagement. Is 100,000 people showing up at a football stadium on a Saturday afternoon to root for their alma mater civic engagement? You’re damn right it is. These are people who are engaged in a community for a common purpose. Wednesday evening Bible study. Is that not civic engagement? How about Little League? Is that not civic engagement? Coaching a little league team, a Girl Scout troop selling their cookies on a Saturday afternoon outside of the grocery store. Civic engagement happens everywhere. Everybody’s already involved in civic engagement. What we need to ask is: ‘How do we reach people where they live and work and play and pray?’ Democratic elected officials are the ones that should be tasking ourselves to be better and broader. We pretend like we want to include everybody. How many times have the Democrats reached out to the evangelical church? How many times do Democrats go to gun clubs or gun fairs? How many Democratic candidates have set up a voter registration booth at a firearms fair at the local fairgrounds? We can’t have a better society if we can’t win elections, and we can’t win elections when we’re only reaching out through this narrow slice of the electorate.”
- Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State, on civic engagement.
“I remain a long-term optimist about democracy in America, despite what we’ve all gone through in the last few years. I mean, does democracy feel a little bit dinged and a little bit dented after the last few years? Yes, I would say so. And the biggest ding, the biggest dent, was January 6, 2021. Though dinged and dented, I would say not even close to being defeated. Our democracy is quite resilient and I don’t want people to lose faith and lose hope. The resiliency that we’ve seen, especially recently, demonstrates that these institutions were built to last. They were meant to last. They will last, not automatically, but because we will make it so.”
- Steve Simon, Minnesota Secretary of State, on optimism.
Read the full document here.
