AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Days after an intruder attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in their house, federal authorities have issued an internal warning, obtained by NPR, of a heightened threat environment during the midterm elections. Misinformation about election security continues to spread. In New Mexico, some activists and officials have been convinced by people touting false claims about voting machines, and it's having a huge impact on local election administrators, as Alice Fordham of member station KUNM reports.
ALICE FORDHAM, BYLINE: Over the summer, I went to what's known as election school in Albuquerque, where county clerks get preelection training. Some of it is regular old bureaucracy.
MAGGIE TOULOUSE OLIVER: Procedures or forms or best practices.
FORDHAM: But Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver says these days, some of it's security training in case of threats or actual violence. And there's something else new.
TOULOUSE OLIVER: We're also talking about things like stress management - right? - because everyone's going through a lot right now.
FORDHAM: County clerks run elections. You could say they're on the front line of democracy, and their lives have changed.
YVONNE OTERO: After 2020, it just - it's just been complete chaos. Like, everything seemed to be peaceful. Nobody had any issues. There wasn't complaints from this side or that side.
FORDHAM: This is Yvonne Otero. She's a Republican. She's county clerk in Torrance County, which is rural...
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