Across the US, numerous polling stations are taking protective measures for the November 8th congressional elections. This is the response to a flood of threats and intimidation from conspiracy theorists who refuse to accept Donald Trump’s defeat in the presidential election two years ago.
Additional security guards, bulletproof glass and reinforced building walls made of bulletproof and fire-resistant Kevlar: In the USA, numerous polling stations are gearing up for the congressional elections on November 8th. Across the country, election supervisors fear that there could be unrest or attacks. They are responding to a barrage of threats and intimidation from conspiracy theorists and other election deniers who refuse to accept Donald Trump’s defeat in the presidential election two years ago.
So they train their staff and poll workers how to de-escalate conflicts or how best to dodge gunmen in the event of an attack. Some equip their polling stations with entry buzzers or alarm buttons. Leon County, Florida, has invested in CCTV and bullet- and bomb-proof glass, says Elections Superintendent Mark Earley. He has often received hostile and vulgar calls from strangers. “I have to worry when my employees leave the building and go to their cars after dark.”
Until recently, such threat scenarios were considered purely hypothetical. There have been few incidents of election-related violence in the United States since the 1960s. But now such risks are considered real, says Tammy Patrick of the Democracy Fund, a nonpartisan foundation working to protect democracy. “The likelihood of them happening is definitely up. So everyone is taking that to heart.”
The Reuters news agency took a closer look at 30 polling stations. Half of them have tightened their security in the run-up to the election, which will include numerous state and local votes in addition to Congress. Reuters has focused on polling stations located in states that are particularly hotly contested between Democrats and Republicans because the outcome there is open and they could end up being election-decisive. The research shows how election supervisors react to threats in these so-called battleground states.
For example, in Champaign County, Illinois, Election Commissioner Aaron Ammons is considering installing metal detectors. He reports on visitors to his polling station who appeared threatening and filmed the premises and employees. “It makes us feel like targets,” he says. But like some of his colleagues in a dozen states, he too complains that bureaucratic hurdles mean that he hasn’t been given enough money to implement the desired security improvements. He and his team are just as much at the front of democracy as “our men and women in uniform”.
He recently saw someone filming his home, Ammons says. In August, he testified before Congress that he and his wife received anonymous messages threatening their daughter’s life ahead of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections. The US Department of Justice says it has reviewed over 1,000 messages poll workers have received since the 2020 vote. More than 100 of these could justify criminal prosecution. Charges have been filed in seven cases so far. The first verdict came recently: a man from Nebraska was sentenced to 18 months in prison for threatening an election worker. Many campaign workers blame disinformation for the situation, such as Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that he was cheated out of his 2020 election victory.
The ex-president’s rhetoric “really poisoned the well,” says Justin Roebuck. He is an election commissioner in rural, conservative Ottawa County in Michigan and, like Trump, is a Republican. Other candidates would have been inspired by Trump’s behavior and cast doubts about the elections. One of the activities Roebuck’s office offered this year was a role-playing game about how to respond to violent incidents. One in five U.S. election officials said they likely will be off their job until the next major election in two years, when Congress and Congress will select presidents, according to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice, a study released in March .
Respondents cited stress, attacks from politicians and approaching retirement as reasons. According to officials, the ongoing bitterness in the wake of the 2020 elections also frightened the election workers, who only step in occasionally to help count ballot papers, for example. Philadelphia has increased pay for such day workers from $120 to $250 because of problems finding poll workers, says Omar Sabir, one of the city’s three election commissioners. He also received death threats in 2020. You have to be on your guard all the time, he says. “Sometimes I have nightmares that someone will come and harm me.”