From national political correspondent Harvest Prude: One of the delights of reporting on election workers and volunteers was getting a look behind the curtain of election administration.

At the Secretary of State’s office in Kentucky, I watched as the staff put numbered wooden blocks into a barrel then drew them out to randomly determine the ballot order for down-ballot races. The process is open to the public, including the candidates themselves, but it was just a handful of us in the office.

At the Hardin County Clerk’s office, I toured a room with shelves full of old land deeds and marriage certificates. (Fun fact: they have on file the marriage bond of Thomas Lincoln, father of Abe Lincoln, to his second wife, Sarah Bush.) County clerk Brian Smith also showed me the license plate room and told me the most popular plate—“Coal Keeps the Lights On”—is a crowd favorite not because of the mining industry but since drivers like that the black background matches their cars.

The work of these officials, both Christians, struck me as meticulous and rarely glamorous. And it was a far cry from the conspiratorial allegations that increasingly surround election workers. It also reminded me of the first part of Luke 16:10: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.”