An elections worker wanted to serve her country. A stew of conspiracy theories and vitriol awaited

RENO, Nev. (AP) — One morning last month, Cari-Ann Burgess did something completely unremarkable: She made a quick stop at a coffee shop on her way to work.

For Burgess, the top election official in a northern Nevada county, such outings could be precarious. As she waited for a hot tea and breakfast sandwich, an older woman approached.

“She proceeded to tell me that I should be ashamed of myself -- that I’m a disgrace, I’m an embarrassment to Washoe County, and I should crawl into a hole and die,” Burgess said in an interview with The Associated Press the following day.

A morning stop at the coffee shop would be no more. It was added to a growing list of things Burgess no longer did because of her job. She already had stopped shopping for groceries and other basic necessities. Meals were eaten at home.

“I go to work, I go home, and I go to church – that’s about it,” Burgess said. “I’m very cautious now about where I go.”

Still, Burgess said she was looking forward to November and overseeing the presidential election with her team in Nevada’s second most populous county. That came to an end one day toward the end of September, when she was called into a meeting with county officials.

The county said Burgess requested medical leave to deal with stress and has referred to her departure as a personnel matter. In a statement, it said it was “focused on conducting a smooth and fair election.” Burgess said she was forced out after refusing to go along with personnel changes sought by the county manager’s office. She said she asked repeatedly to stay, even providing a doctor’s note vouching for her health, and has hired a lawyer.

Overseeing the office now is Burgess’ deputy, the fifth person in four years to run the county election operation. The entire staff is new since 2020. The turnover is one symptom of a county that is closely divided politically and has been buffeted by election conspiracy theories since Republican Donald Trump lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Burgess, in her first public remarks since her abrupt departure, told the AP this past week that she was worried about her team and was at a loss on what to do next.

“I was giving 110% of who I was, who I am to this job. And then all of a sudden I’m out and I don’t understand,” Burgess said, as she considered her next steps. “I don’t understand how we got to this point.”

AP journalists were in Reno in September, a week before her departure, and spent several days with Burgess that included time at the Washoe County elections office and at her home. As with those who preceded her, Burgess and her staff had been in a pressure cooker, subject to biting criticism at public meetings and made to answer conspiracy-fueled claims about voting machines, drop boxes and voter rolls.

Dealing with members of the elected county commission who distrust elections made the job even more difficult.

Burgess was an extreme case of the types of challenges facing local election officials around the country after four years of false claims that have undermined public confidence in elections and in those who run them. Across the country, election workers have faced harassment and even death threats and have taken extra security precautions this year that include adding bulletproof glass and panic buttons.

Over the three days that the AP spent with Burgess, she gave no indication she planned to leave her job.

“I didn’t think I was going to be in a place that I am now -- so front and center and a hotbed for this election, but I am grateful,” Burgess said, while sitting in her living room surrounded by inspirational Bible passages and Christian symbols. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. I’m grateful that I am able to serve my country again.”

The Washoe County election office sits inside a complex of government buildings a few miles north of downtown Reno. Burgess’ office, before she left, was adorned with American flags, a copy of the U.S. Constitution and red, white and blue decorative stars that read liberty, freedom and America.

“Election Heroes Work Here,” proclaimed a sign outside her office door.

She was the fourth person to lead the Washoe County election office since 2020, named interim registrar of voters in January in a 3-2 vote by the county commission.

Across parts of the United States, local election officials exhausted by the harassment and demands of the job have retired or left the profession entirely. Even Burgess had stopped working in elections for a time after being harassed in public by people upset Trump had lost in 2020, even though he had easily won the Minnesota county where she worked at the time.

Arriving in Washoe County, where the Sierra Nevada transitions to the high desert, Burgess encountered a county mired in voting-related conspiracy theories. County meetings are often prolonged by members of the public who opposed Burgess’ hiring and who don’t trust voting equipment.

“It feels like you’re on the front line, but it’s a different front line. It’s the front line of democracy -- not the front line of combat,” Burgess said. “But the way the country is divided at the moment, it feels like combat because every day you’re combatting some misinformation.”

A few days before her departure, Burgess brought in a consultant to lead training for staff on how to manage stress. Among the many other things on her to-do list were security upgrades at the election office.

Among the recommendations was placing a film over the glass windows that can slow, but not stop, bullets.

“That’s when I realized I have a lot more dangerous job than I actually expected," Burgess said. "It should never, ever be like this.”

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., curls her hair before church on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Reno, Nevada. (AP Photo/Serkan Gurbuz)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., leaves the office after working Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., walks through the office, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., moves boxes while preparing the office for elections, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., center, eats dinner with her husband Shane Burgess, right, at their home Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., left, prays with her husband Shane Burgess before eating dinner at their home Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Window light illuminates a depiction of Jesus at the home of Cari-Ann Burgess, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., wears socks with the word "vote" while sitting at her home Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., left, kisses husband Shane Burgess as she arrives at their home Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., walks through the office Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Wendy Steiner, office assistant at the Washoe County Registrar of Voters office, carries a sign for poll worker training Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Office assistant Shawna Johnson marks a countdown until election day on a whiteboard at the Washoe County Registrar of Voters office, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, third from left, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., attends a class on dealing with work stress and trauma with office assistant Shawna Johnson, from left, and business technologist Michael Mulreany, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., moves around boxes while preparing the office for elections Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, left, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., stands with Michael Mulreany, business technologist, while helping prepare the office for elections, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., arrives at the office Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., walks through the office Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Cari-Ann Burgess, interim Registrar of Voters for Washoe County, Nev., pauses while helping prepare the office for elections, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Reno, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone strike killed a teenager in Kyiv during a nighttime barrage on the Ukrainian capital that lasted for hours, officials said, while four people were reportedly killed in a missile attack on central Ukraine that also left at least 21 injured.

According to Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko, the drone slammed into a 25-story apartment block Friday night in the city's west, killing a 15-year-old girl and injuring five others. Ukraine's Emergency Service said 100 people were evacuated following the strike, which damaged several apartments on the building's upper floors.

Serhii Popko, who heads Kyiv's local military administration, said that Russian forces overnight pummeled the city for 7 1/2 hours. Air raid sirens wailed throughout the night, and Popko said that Ukrainian air defense shot down up to a dozen Russian drones.

Also late Friday, a Russian missile hit a residential area in the central city of Dnipro, killing a 14-year-old and three others, said regional Gov. Serhii Lysak, adding that at least 21 others were injured including an 8-year-old and teenagers. The wife and teenage daughter of a local policeman were pulled dead from the rubble, police reported. The attack damaged over a dozen apartment buildings, private houses and a medical facility.

A man and woman died after a Russian drone dropped explosives on a village in the southern Kherson region, local prosecutors said, while a 61-year-old woman was killed by shelling in the northeast.

In the Kyiv province, which surrounds but does not include the capital, flying debris from a drone attack killed a woman, Ukraine’s Emergency Service reported. A 13-year-old boy was wounded elsewhere in the region, it said.

A medical emergency team carry the body of a teenager who died after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Firefighters rest on a curb during after responding to a Russian attack that killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Emergency service vehicles are seen through the smoke from a fire caused by the attack of Russian drones that killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

A firefighter looks on from a floor that burned down after a Russian attack killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Local residents watch a residential building burn after an attack of Russian drones killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

A firefighter observes the site of the Russian drone attack that killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

Firefighters wear oxygen masks before entering a floor that burned down after a Russian attack killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

A residential building burns after an attack of Russian drones killed a teenager in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)

A medical emergency team carry the body of a teenager who died after a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)