Melissa Kono has been training election workers in Wisconsin for a decade.
The election town clerk in Burnside said her approach used to center on ensuring workers understood election rules, such as photo ID requirements and voter eligibility. But in recent years, she says the focus has shifted to helping election workers deal with threats, including determining what may constitute a real threat and how to de-escalate situations.
“They’re very, very concerned” about receiving threats in polling locations, Kono told Newsweek. “I do think that some people are afraid.”
She began providing workers with information about how to deal with emergencies in the polling place—things like extreme weather or fires—about five years ago, she said.
“Now, one slide in my PowerPoint is how to deal with general emergencies, and there’s a section on dealing with threats,” she said. Most of the questions she is asked during training sessions are about dealing with conflict and responding to voters complaining about fraud.
Kono said she is “so concerned” for the safety of election workers and clerks.
“I feel a lot of responsibility for keeping the workers safe and properly training them on what to expect and how to handle it,” she said. “But then there are things that I just can’t even anticipate.”
She is aware of some people who have chosen to no longer serve as election workers due to the safety risks. “Some really good people, they have been disincentivized from participating in the process,” she said.
Their fears are far from unfounded.
The work of administering elections has become increasingly dangerous since the 2020 election. Threats against election offices and workers have been on the rise ever since, mainly from those acting on former President Donald Trump‘s baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud costing him reelection.
Almost one in four (38 percent) of local election officials experienced threats, harassment or abuse for doing their jobs, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning nonprofit. The survey found that 54 percent were concerned about the safety of their colleagues and staff, and 28 percent were concerned about their family or loved ones being threatened or harassed.
Among the recent incidents raising concerns are reports that election officials have been sent letters filled with white powder in more than 15 states. In Kansas, workers were told to wear masks and gloves when handling incoming mail after a suspicious postcard was delivered to a polling office.
Election officials have also been targeted in swatting incidents—hoax 911 calls designed to prompt an aggressive response by police officers.
Kono told Newsweek that she is especially concerned about the dangers of “swatting” for election workers.
“The fact that now we have to question calling for help because help might not arrive because law enforcement doesn’t know if it’s a legitimate threat or if somebody has called it in as a hoax…It’s terrifying to me,” she said.
As a result, officials nationwide are preparing for Election Day by ramping up security to keep workers and voters safe at polling places.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice‘s Election Threats Task Force has been investigating threats against election workers, securing convictions against 13 people since its creation in June 2021.
Among them: a Florida man who walked into a polling place and threatened to “blow the place up” and a Texas man who advocated for “a mass shooting of poll workers and election officials” in precincts with results he found suspect.
The Justice Department “has been aggressively investigating and prosecuting those who threaten the public servants who administer our elections, and we will continue to do so in the weeks ahead,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said last week. “For our democracy to function, Americans who serve the public must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives.”
Safety concerns have led some to conclude that the best course of action is to stop welcoming voters altogether.
In Houston, one elementary school will not be a polling location after parents expressed concerns about the potential risks to students. Arizona’s largest public school district made the same decision for all of its schools after a chaotic election last November that saw some voters confronting school staff as mistaking them for election workers, according to The Washington Post.
“Threats are rising to election officials and workers, and it is crucial to take them seriously,” Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago, told Newsweek. “Indeed, the threat could grow not just on Election Day, but through the official tabulation and state certification of the vote counts.”
He said the risks to workers are highest in battleground states where the margins are expected to be extremely tight.
Pape pointed to a September survey from the Chicago Project on Security and Threats, which found that some 6 percent of Americans—the equivalent of 15 million adults—believe using force is justified to restore Trump to the White House. Eight percent—about 21 million adults—agree that using force is justified to prevent Trump from winning a second term.
“Volatile individuals who may be on the verge of violence for their own psycho-social reasons could be nudged to election-related violence believing they are acting for a popular cause,” he said.
Pape recommended that the governors of the seven battleground states make a joint video condemning political violence. “Political rhetoric can escalate violence, and it can also prevent it,” he said.
Robert Shapiro, a political science professor at Columbia University, said election officials must ensure that sufficient law enforcement officers or other security are present at polling places and “announce that any threats will not be tolerated.”
“It goes without saying that in states that allow carrying of guns that guns should not be permitted within a certain distance of election locations,” Shapiro, one of the authors of Hate Speech and Political Violence: Far-Right Rhetoric from the Tea Party to the Insurrection, told Newsweek.
“If there are concerns about vote fraud or voter suppression, there should be clear rules about how this will be monitored to assure those worried about fraud and suppression.”
The National Policing Institute released a report earlier this year offering guidance on how officers can more effectively protect the public during elections.
“Local leaders have been preparing for months to ensure public safety during the election cycle, including reviewing policies, updating training among officers, strengthening mutual aid agreements, communicating the importance of the role of law enforcement in protecting the public regardless of political views, and reassuring communities about their safety,” Jim Burch, the president of the NPI, told Newsweek.
Many law enforcement officers have “recognized the need to take on additional responsibilities including the security of ballot collection locations, vote counting facilities, and, in some cases, playing a role in addressing mis- and disinformation related to public safety and security.”
