What happened
The news agency Siren has reviewed court rulings and documents from Säkerhetspolisen for more than 15 000 people who worked in general elections. The investigation shows that 45 election workers have links to right-wing extremism, violent Islamism, organized crime, or criminal biker environments. Of these 45 individuals, 30 are linked to right-wing extremism and nine to organized crime. Several people in leadership positions at polling stations have been convicted of serious crimes, including aggravated assault resulting in death and aggravated sexual offences. Today, there is no legal requirement for election workers to have a clean criminal record; instead, municipal election committees decide on the requirements during recruitment themselves.
Our analysis
Municipal election committees bear full responsibility for recruitment to polling stations, but oversight has failed so deeply that individuals convicted of lethal violence have been able to be appointed as chairs of electoral districts. Of the 45 identified individuals among the 15 000 reviewed, 30 have links to right-wing extremism, which constitutes two-thirds of all cases. Still, mainstream news reporting chose to place gangs and Islamism front and center in headlines, despite right-wing extremists making up the overwhelmingly largest group in the investigation. Neither the government nor the Riksdag has introduced central requirements for criminal record checks for staff handling citizens' votes. Unless lawmakers tighten the requirements ahead of upcoming elections, the oversight of polling station security remains left to the discretion of individual municipalities.
Explained
An election worker is a person employed by the municipal election committee to hand out ballot papers, check off the electoral roll, and receive votes at a polling station.