Election officials in Georgia and some other states will increase security measures ahead of the November election, anticipating possible threats.
Tate Fall, the election director in Georgia’s Cobb County, recently organized a training session for security measures, the Associated Press reported. The session included election workers in the county and local law enforcement officials to discuss strategies for keeping employees safe ahead of the upcoming election.
In Cobb County, ballot locations will now have a local sheriff and a panic button for poll workers that will connect them immediately to a 911 dispatcher in case of emergencies.
Fall said she was compelled to take action after one of her poll workers shared a troubling experience during the state’s March presidential primary. The worker described being approached by an agitated voter who appeared to be carrying a gun. While the incident ended without violence, the poll worker was left shaken.
“That made it really real for me—that it’s so easy for something to go sideways in life, period, let alone the environment of Georgia and elections,” Fall said this week. “I just can’t have someone being harmed on my conscience.”
In addition to Georgia, election officials nationwide are ramping up security ahead of November 5 to safeguard polling places and workers and ensure the integrity of ballots and voting processes.
A voter is seen while leaving a polling place after casting a primary ballot in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 12. In September 2024, Georgia election workers increased security amid the upcoming November election.
ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images
The concern isn’t just hypothetical. Since the 2020 presidential race, election offices and their staff have faced harassment and even death threats. Many of these incidents stem from supporters of former President Donald Trump, who continue to push false claims that widespread fraud or rigged voting machines stole the election from him.
Over the weekend, there was a second apparent assassination attempt against Trump, the Republican nominee for president, at his Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, prompting the arrest of 58-year-old Ryan Routh.
In July, there was another attempt on Trump’s life while at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, spoke at a recent agency event where she said, “This is one of the things that I have to say is just crazy, outrageous to me—the election threats to workers of both parties and their families, the bullying, the harassment.”
“These folks, they are not doing it for pay. They’re not doing it for glory. They’re doing it because they believe it’s the right thing to do to defend our democracy,” Easterly said.
This article includes reporting from the Associated Press.
