In light of the recently submitted resolution in support of election officials, I contacted Clerk Kami Lynch and asked if she or the staff members in her office had been bullied, threatened, intimidated or undermined in relation to their election administration duties since the 2020 general election took place.
She responded, “Yes, myself and my staff have experienced being bullied, intimidated and undermined related to our duties of election administration. None of these experiences/occurrences have prevented us from doing our jobs or our duties to administer elections.
“We have not been threatened.”
I asked her for more details regarding what she and her staff had experienced.
She explained, “Overall, the majority of the bullying and intimidation is over the phone. Individuals questioning us or insinuating that we have malicious intentions. There is also name calling or implying that we are doing inappropriate activities. These interactions are with individuals that have elevated voices, use profanity, and have a lack of regard for what we have to say or our intentions to help them and answer their questions. Often times they are taking out frustrations with elements beyond our control, on us.
“One of my staff had an absentee ballot thrown at her, in-person individuals have become angry with procedural changes and have yelled and attempted to intimidate staff with their level of anger.
“We have also received hand-written, inappropriate notes on election materials sent out by groups unaffiliated with the City of Appleton.
“All in all, it’s not pleasant but so far nothing we haven’t been able to handle. We move on from the negative interactions quite quickly. It’s the positive interactions that stay with us in our memories.”
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