Please accept this correspondence as an enthusiastic endorsement of Jamie Shew for a KUCIMAT Dena Laurent Sorenson Profile in Courage Award.
This award recognizes individuals who have made personal and/or professional progress by overcoming obstacles through exceptional courage, fortitude and adherence to the high ideals which exemplify the urban management profession. Approximately eight years ago, I joined the Auburn University faculty and began teaching in the Election Center’s Professional Education Program (PEP). The program consists of two major parts. After completion of certain coursework and additional requirements, you can become a Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA), a Certified Elections/Registration Vendor (CERV), or a Certified Elections Monitor (CEM). The CERA, CERV, or CEM designation is an honor as it requires the recipient to obtain and/or to maintain CERA, CERV, or CEM status the highest professional standards and a commitment to continuing education. In this capacity, as well as a voter, I have grown to admire Jamie’s dedication to democracy, professionalism, and public service, especially in the face of violence, dis/misinformation, and declining trust. Simply put, Jamie is a leader across the Election Administration community and in the broader local government community and is very much deserving of this recognition.
Jamie’s background is impressive and (by itself) is worthy of recognition, and is summarized below:
“Jamie Sew was elected County Clerk/County Election Officer for Douglas County, Kansas, in 2004. He is currently in his fourth term of office. Prior to his election he worked in higher education administration and business management. He is active in Election Center, IaGo, GFOA, Kansas Association of Counties, and Kansas County Clerks & Elections Officials Association where he served as president in 2014-15. Jamie has achieved Master County Clerk status in Kansas and earned national Certified Election Registration Administrator (CERA) status in 2017. Since taking office, he has led a redesign of the Douglas County Clerk’s Office, focusing on accessibility, organization effectiveness and efficiency. He has been recognized for his innovative initiatives to potential voting barriers, including creation of the Douglas County Voter I.D. and the birth certificate assistance programs. Jamie has focused on ways to use the Internet to improve outreach and cut costs, specifically use of social media. Jamie has provided leadership in implementing a new integrated financial system in Douglas County. His efforts were recognized by the Lawrence/Douglas County League of Women Voters Helen Fluker Award for Open and Transparent Government. Jamie has presented to local, state, and national audiences on a variety of election topics, sharing his passion for election administration.”
To accomplish the above as well as continuing to provide exemplary public service post-2020 I believe demonstrates the values embedded within the Dena Laurent Sorenson Profile in Courage Award. According to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, election officials face myriad of unique challenges including:
• “Unlike private citizens, state and local election officials are public servants. Many election officials are directly elected or are appointed by a public body. This means that personal information, including personal addresses and contact information, may be on official public records.
• The public is less likely to trust the outcome of an election if their preferred candidate(s) loses. Additionally, individual members of the public may blame the system for political losses or distrust. Unfortunately, what the public views as a faceless system is in fact run by real people.”2
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite’s work on an election security taskforce shines an even brighter spotlight on the threats facing the election’s community:
• The task force reviewed over 1,000 contacts reported as hostile or harassing by the election community.
• Approximately 11% of those contacts met the threshold for a federal criminal investigation. The remaining reported contacts did not provide a predication for a federal criminal investigation. While many of the contacts were often hostile, harassing, and abusive towards election officials, they did not include a threat of unlawful violence.
• In investigations where the source of a reported contact was identified, in 50% of the matters the source contacted the victim on multiple occasions. These investigations accordingly encompassed multiple contacts. The number of individual investigations is less than 5% of the total number of reported contacts.
The task force has charged four federal cases and joined another case that was charged prior to the establishment of the task force. There have also been multiple state prosecutions to date. The task force anticipates additional prosecutions in the near future.
• Election officials in states with close elections and postelection contests were more likely to receive threats. 58% of the total of potentially criminal threats were in states that underwent 2020 post-election lawsuits, recounts, and audits, such as Arizona, Georgia, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Wisconsin.”3
Finally, in testimony given to the Senate Rules Committee, Wade Henderson, Interim President And CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, noted “ a survey commissioned by the Brennan Center for Justice found that one in three election officials feel unsafe because of their job, and nearly one in five listed threats to their lives as a job-related concern. Notably, 78 percent of election officials who were surveyed said that rampant disinformation on social media has made their jobs more difficult, and 54 percent said they believe that it has made their jobs more dangerous.”4
Jamie is a leader in the elections field, a wonderful public servant, a tireless advocate for election integrity, transparency, and the voters of Douglas County, Kanas. In short, he exemplifies a true profile in courage and is very much deserving of this honor.
