IBEW member and swing-state election official Jeannette Bradshaw warns voters this fall: don’t leave the integrity of the voting system up to someone else.
She speaks from experience. In 2020, Bradshaw, a member of both Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers and Detroit Local 58, held the line when claims of “election interference” threatened the board’s certification of President Joe Biden’s win in Michigan. The state-level canvassing board certifies each county’s election results.
No credible allegation of fraud was ever found in Michigan where Biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes in 2020. These results were upheld by audits, court rulings, and a Michigan state Senate investigation.
This year, Bradshaw warns that voter intimidation near drop boxes, interference with absentee ballots, and even polling place violence may get in the way of voters peacefully casting their votes.
“It’s the integrity of the election process that matters. The IBEW and other unions protected the vote in 2020,” says Bradshaw. She remembers protesters in Detroit following false claims of voter fraud. “I never want to see that again.”
Bradshaw is among ten IBEW Michigan members elected as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this past August. At the DNC, she encouraged IBEW delegates to keep up their activism, especially on Election Day, November 5.
“IBEW members can get involved as election workers or absentee ballot counters,” says Bradshaw, who is also Local 58’s recording secretary. “This goes beyond campaigning. It’s defending democracy on the ground.”
Volunteers are particularly important in the handful of battleground states that are likely to decide the election: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia.
DNC delegate Tim Dixon, retired Ninth District international representative, says extra time after his retirement motivated him to get involved in the Palos Verdes, Calif. Democratic committee. He encourages fellow I-ROAR members to do some poll-watching, door-knocking, or phone-banking this year.
“I am 66 and there has never been an election where I was so fearful for my children and grandchildren about our democracy,” says Dixon. “Democracy is on the ballot, and this is a unique opportunity to give back.”
