“It’s not OK for people to not be respectful and mindful of others when they’re sending stuff out,” Cortés said, “even when they’re upset.”

Cortés initially said past listserv suspensions have lasted two to three weeks, but Sasnett’s may be shortened because the presidential election is just two weeks away. Policing of the listserv, Cortés said, is purely about maintaining professionalism and not about tamping down criticism.

“If that was the case, we’d probably have half the registrars at this point not able to send to the list,” he said.

Sasnett said he asked to see written guidelines for the listserv but hasn’t received any. He said the state revokes registrars’ access on a “case-by-case basis.”

“And usually when somebody voices their dissatisfaction for the way things are being run,” Sasnett said.

The issue that upset Sasnett, Cortés said, was caused by state officials’ performing an audit of all online transactions on their end to ensure that everything had been sent to the appropriate registrar.

City and county registrars oversee voter registration, absentee voting and the ground-level process of conducting elections.