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This year, with a minimum of four elections, some city and town clerks are turning their attention to vote-by-mail applications leaving them little time to do anything elseall year long. "It's insane," one clerk said.

We often hear impassioned pleas to protect the health and spirit of our democracy. Count us among those voices. Its a uniquely trying time for the nations fundamental democratic institutions, including those vital arteries that pump the lifeblood of local democracy through our communities: clerks offices.

Anyone who is truly appreciative of or concerned for American democracy should think of the local town or city clerk. These are the folks who put in the always crucial and too often thankless work to maintain the machinery of our electoral system, from voter and candidate registration to staging and overseeing elections. And over the last several election cycles that machine has seen much more sand thrown in its gears. There was the herculean task of shepherding elections amid a devastating viral pandemic. Then there was a targeted campaign to overwhelm election officials across the country, including Massachusetts clerks, with excessive and frivolous records requests based on a former presidents baseless election-denial conspiracy-mongering that he continues to amplify as the presumptive Republican nominee.

Now, the metaphorical sand in the gears is the product of some very real postcards inundating clerks in city halls and town offices throughout the Berkshires and across the commonwealth. You probably saw the tri-fold white postcards, sent by the Massachusetts secretary of state, in your mailbox a while back. After allowing a vote-by-mail option during the COVID-stricken 2020 election year, Massachusetts made that option permanent in 2022. Now any Bay State voters who want to utilize that option can request mail-in ballots with those postcard applications, which must be sent to every registered voter no less than 60 days before every primary or general election, in accordance with that 2022 law. You can still vote the old-fashioned way, so you dont have to fill out that postcard and forward it to your local clerks office. A lot of people did prefer that option, though, and handling those applications for mailed ballots has become a considerable time-sink for local clerks offices.

Having a vote-by-mail option, like any reasonable and secure way to expand the access and ease of voting, is a good thing. Like early in-person voting, if theres a way to accommodate folks with schedule conflicts, mobility issues or any other reasons that might prevent or dissuade them from standing in line at the polls on Election Day, we ought to pursue it. Given growing apathy and anemic voter participation of late, every reasonable step to encourage democratic participation is worth taking.

Some have concerns about the security of mail-in voting, fears no doubt fanned by Donald Trumps meritless attacks on mail-in votings legitimacy during the 2020 election. Those concerns can be addressed. Anyone concerned with Massachusetts system should educate themselves on how the process works when a clerk receives a mail-in ballot application. In fact, its the rigor of that system that is hamstringing many clerks offices. These applications have to be verified by the workers in those offices, including what Pittsfields assistant clerk of voter registration and elections referred to as problem children, a term for postcards with incomplete or inconsistent information. Thats a process that deserves and requires time, attention and, like all quality public services, money to run and staff operations.

Whether a clerks office gets a few dozen or a few thousand (or more) of these little postcards forwarded to them, thats a big amount of work added to the plates of the folks at the front lines of local democracy. Realistically, for most offices it means having to staff up which can be difficult for city or town halls quickly looking for more workers or room in their limited budgets. Pittsfield City Clerk Michele Benjamin told The Eagle that handling this years rush would not be possible without the help of volunteers. Meanwhile, in Sandisfield, the town clerk is a part-time position because the municipality cant afford to offer the benefits that would come with a full-time position. So Clerk Douglas Miner puts in hours on the weekend days he isnt paid to work in an effort to process all the vote-by-mail applications in time. The town did approve hiring an assistant for him another part-time position but Mr. Miner will continue putting in extra hours.

Im not in this job for the money, he told The Eagle. Neither are the volunteers in the Pittsfield clerks office. Yet if were going to be consistent with the lofty paeans to democracy its so fashionable to pronounce nowadays, we ought to put our money where our democratic values are. Clerks offices clearly need help to keep up with the states admirable efforts to expand voting access. Some municipalities, like Sandisfield, might not have that budgetary flexibility, but the state can and should step in to provide the budgetary backstop to make sure Massachusetts mail-in-voting system does not collapse on the backs of over-worked clerks, which could in turn give a foothold to those opposing sensible efforts to expand voter access and participation. Its not exactly a spend-happy mood on Beacon Hill at the moment, but the sort of help that could make the difference to clerks offices perhaps grants to pay for part-time positions allocated based on applications received would barely register as a rounding error on the states annual budget. Protecting democracy demands more than penny-pinching.

In the meantime, thank your local clerks office workers. Many are working overtime to uphold their end of the bargain. Massachusetts can and should do more to help them meet the challenges.

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Our Opinion: If we want to support democracy, it should include helping overworked clerks - Berkshire Eagle