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PBS News Hour - Segments

Election officials sound alarm over political interference in midterms

PBS News Hour - Segments

PBS NewsHour

News, Daily News

4.11K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After Democrats won an election in Virginia to redraw congressional maps in their favor, President Trump called it, without evidence, a "rigged election" and "travesty of justice." It's the latest example of Trump casting doubt on the U.S. election process. Liz Landers reports on political interference concerns from local election officials as the midterm election season is well underway. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0

After Virginia voters backed a push by Democrats to redraw congressional maps in their favor,

0:06.8

President Trump, without evidence, called it a rigged election and a travesty of justice.

0:12.3

It's the latest example of the president casting doubt on the U.S. election process.

0:17.2

Liz Landers joins us again with more on the concerns local election officials are expressing

0:22.0

with midterm election season well underway.

0:26.3

Amna, a recent Brennan Center study found more than half of local election workers are worried

0:31.2

about political interference. In past election years, many have turned to the Federal Department

0:36.1

of Homeland Security and the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, better known as SISA, to help ward off

0:43.3

potential election threats.

0:45.3

The tides have turned this year as the agency takes a back seat.

0:49.3

So we spoke to several local election officials about their worries over security, resources, and getting the federal

0:55.4

support they need.

0:57.1

My name is Matt Crane.

0:58.3

I'm the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association.

1:01.4

I'm Derek Bowens, the elections director for Durham County, North Carolina.

1:04.6

And I've been the director of elections here for nine years.

1:07.6

My name is Carly Koppas.

1:09.1

I'm the Weld County Clerk and Recorder in Colorado. I'm Scott McDonnell, and I've been Dan County Clerk for 14 years. My name is Carly Coppice. I'm the Weld County Clerk and Recorder in Colorado.

1:11.6

I'm Scott McDonnell and I've been Dan County Clerk for 14 years.

1:15.6

Yeah, I've been threatened with coming and being dragged out of my office and tarned and feathered

1:20.6

in the parking lot.

1:21.6

Our concerns about physical security issues this year are pretty wide.

...

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