Libraries as Community Steadying Force After a Dramatic Election

Gretchen GardellaNo CommentsUncategorized

The 2022 midterms ended with power split in Washington and were very divisive, much like the recent 2026 midterms. Republicans narrowly won the House, 221 seats to 213, while Democrats held the Senate and reached 51 seats when Sen. Raphael Warnock won Georgia’s runoff on December 6 [1]. The weeks after Election Day were bumpy in places. A handful of counties in Arizona and Pennsylvania delayed certifying their results, some because of recounts requested in scattered precincts, although certification went smoothly in most states [2]. Some Americans felt relieved by the outcome. Others felt disappointed or suspicious. In the days and weeks that followed, public libraries played a quiet but steadying role.

Neutral Ground and Reliable Information

Much of the tension after the 2022 vote centered on how long counting took. PolitiFact reported that between September 1 and Election Day, online posts and coverage about “delays” in midterm results topped 5,000 mentions, and some of them framed slow counting as a sign of fraud [3]. In reality, counting for several days is normal, especially in states where the law bars election workers from processing mail ballots before Election Day [3].

That gap between how elections actually work and what people see online is where librarians help. They are trained to find primary sources, and they serve everyone regardless of how they voted. At Bryant University’s Krupp Library in Rhode Island, a research and instruction librarian co-led a November 14, 2022, discussion with a political science professor and a student about what happened in the key races. The library then posted a resource list that pointed readers to

An election worker tabulates mail-in ballots at the Clark County Election Department Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP)

live results, turnout data, and reporting from a range of outlets [4]. Rather than telling people what to think, the list gave them the tools to check for themselves.

A Place to Talk, and to Listen

Libraries also gave neighbors somewhere to talk through what had happened. Spokane Public Library in Washington held its first Braver Angels workshop, a two-hour session called “Family and Politics,” shortly before Thanksgiving in 2022. A staff member trained as a Braver Angels moderator led the session, which focused on handling political conversations at family gatherings constructively [5]. The library saw a particular need for this work because Spokane leans liberal while the surrounding region leans conservative. Its goal was not to change anyone’s politics but to build understanding between people who disagree, and several participants came back for later events [5].

In New Jersey, the Moorestown Library partnered with the local Braver Angels chapter, which describes itself as bipartisan, to host its own “Family and Politics” workshop on December 7, 2022. Participants brought a brown-bag dinner and practiced ways to ease the tension of talking politics with relatives over the holidays. The organizers argued that people shouldn’t lose their connections with family, friends, and neighbors because of how they vote [6]. Programs like these give people a way to keep talking after an election, in a setting built for listening rather than shouting.

Elections are designed to produce winners and losers, but communities have to keep working and living their lives afterward. In 2022, recounts ran their course, the new Congress convened in January, and neighbors who voted differently went on sharing the same schools, parks, and grocery stores. Libraries can’t erase political divisions, and they shouldn’t try to pick sides. What they can do is keep their doors open, keep their information accurate, and offer people a calm place to make sense of what happened. As communities work through the results of the 2026 midterms, the libraries that stepped up in 2022 offer a useful model.

References

  1. Chetcuti, L. (2022, December 7). Understanding the outcome of the 2022 US midterms. Institut Montaigne. https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/understanding-outcome-2022-us-midterms
  2. Riccardi, N. (2022, November 29). Election certification delays few, but a ‘test run’ for 2024. Associated Press (via KION). https://kioncentralcoast.com/news/ap-arizona/2022/11/29/election-certification-delays-few-but-a-test-run-for-2024-2/
  3. Czopek, M. (2022, November 15). How days of vote counting became go-to ‘evidence’ for false election fraud claims. PolitiFact. https://politifact.com/article/2022/nov/15/how-days-of-vote-counting-became-go-to-evidence-fo/
  4. Krupp Library, Bryant University. (2022, November 15). Resource list: The 2022 midterm elections: What happened and why? https://library.bryant.edu/resource-list-2022-midterm-elections-what-happened-and-why
  5. IREX. (2023, June 14). Bridgebuilding case study: Spokane Public Library. WebJunction. https://www.webjunction.org/news/webjunction/bridging-spokane-public-library.html
  6. The Sun Newspapers. (2022, November 19). Moorestown Braver Angels partners with library to host workshop. https://thesunpapers.com/2022/11/19/moorestown-braver-angels-partners-with-library-to-host-workshop