Watch THE OFFICIALS, a documentary on election officials preparing for a contentious 2024 election, here
Janice Winfrey never thought that she would feel unsafe in her job as Detroit’s city clerk, which she’s held for nearly two decades. But in 2020, Donald Trump supporters pounded on the windows of the building where she and her staff were counting votes. The protesters shouted baseless accusations that the election was rigged and some entered the office. “They kept saying that this was a big lie,” Winfrey says. (An audit later confirmed Detroit’s results were accurate.) Fast forward to 2024—the former President is running again. This time, Winfrey feels prepared. Election staff has met with local, state and federal law enforcement to improve security protocols. And the Justice Department now has a task force focused on addressing violence against election workers.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Winfrey has long championed expanding voting access, including through early voting. In the middle of the pandemic, Michigan faced an intense lockdown and health officials considered Detroit a hotspot. Michigan law stated that voters had to request an absentee ballot application in order to get one. “I made the decision to go rogue,” Winfrey says. She sent all of Detroit’s roughly 200,000 registered voters a ballot application—even those who didn’t make a formal request. “That raised eyebrows for a lot of people,” she says. But in the following weeks, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson took the same approach, mailing out absentee ballot applications to the rest of the state’s registered voters. In February’s presidential primary, most voters used absentee ballots and Winfrey expects the same in November.
Whether it’s a pandemic or threats of violence, Winfrey strongly feels elections are too important to allow them to be sidelined. With Michigan a prized swing state this cycle, she has hired armed security and taken other precautions for her safety. Still, she admits she felt a lot safer in her own home and in public before her husband passed away two years ago. “You know, I’m a praying woman. I have faith, and I know God is keeping and protecting me, and I have to rely on that.”