[Excerpts]
Faith leaders and Arizona Supreme Court Justice [Maria Elena Cruz] gathered at the state Capitol a week away from the midterm election to call for the respectful treatment of election workers….
The Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan [a Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) leader] spoke out against the harassment of election workers during Monday’s news conference, urging Arizonans to support them instead.
“No matter who a vote is cast for, they work hard to make sure that every vote is accurately counted,” she said. “Election officials, staff and poll workers dedicate their time and talents and they deserve our gratitude and respect, but unfortunately that is not always what they receive.”
And the Rev. Jeff Procter-Murphy, a member of the VIP, a community [organizing] group, added that election workers spend multiple hours running the state’s elections and lamented that so many face threats.
“Election workers give long days, they arrive before dawn and often leave after dark,” he said. “They help the first time voter, the elderly neighbor, the tired parent with kids in tow. They do it with patience and integrity and in recent years too many of them have done it under pressure and even under threat.”
‘They Deserve our Gratitude’: Group Rallies Behind Arizona Election Workers, AZ Mirror [pdf]
Faith, Community Leaders Call for Election Worker Safety as Threats Pop Up in Arizona, ABC15 [pdf] [video]
Arizona Election Workers Deserve Our Gratitude, Not Threats, The Arizona Republic [pdf]