In Arizona, two weeks before the tabulating begins, election centers are starting to look like fortresses.
“Armed guards at the gate and metal detectors at the door,” began a recent opinion piece by Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. “Snipers on the roof. Drones in the sky.
“Welcome to the front line of one of the nation’s key battleground states — a place where election workers not only drill on the finer points of counting ballots but also must be prepared to wield a fire hose, should the need arise to repel a mob once the votes are in.”
“Armed guards at the gate and metal detectors at the door,” began a recent opinion piece by Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. “Snipers on the roof. Drones in the sky.
“Welcome to the front line of one of the nation’s key battleground states — a place where election workers not only drill on the finer points of counting ballots but also must be prepared to wield a fire hose, should the need arise to repel a mob once the votes are in.”
The wording isn’t an exaggeration. A Wall Street Journal piece last weekend detailed all of the above, adding that election workers are undergoing active-shooter drills and lessons in how to barricade themselves. Trauma kits have been provided, including tourniquets and materials for packing chest wounds and treating serious bleeding.
Are we expecting a general election next month, or a war? For those in the middle of it, that’s not a crazy question. And more of us are in the middle of it than you might think.
Arizona is a so-called swing state. In 2020, its narrow victory for Joe Biden was one key to his winning the White House. But if you think the threats this time are confined to battleground states only, you’re not paying attention.
In Utah, a solid red state where Donald Trump’s victory in 2020 was never in doubt, and where polls show he likely will win again in 2024, the FBI intercepted a letter recently meant for Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson that contained a white powder. It also contained a letter signed by the “United States Traitor Elimination Army.”
In the weeks following the 2020 election and leading up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, law enforcement issued several warnings about impending violence. This year, the signs are there again. Conspiracy theories already abound, centering on unfounded rumors that undocumented immigrants are coming over the border to cast ballots.
Similar claims were circulated after the last two presidential elections. In the midst of these, an audit of Arizona’s 2020 election, led by Republicans, found no widespread fraud and actually confirmed Biden’s victory by slightly more votes than the official tally. That hasn’t seemed to carry much weight.
It doesn’t help that, as the Washington Post reported, nearly half the Republican candidates for Congress or top state offices have expressed doubts about the 2024 election results already.
Wednesday morning, in a virtual press conference organized by americasvoice.org, advocates and researchers said rural counties seem particularly vulnerable this time. Some election workers are being followed and harassed.
“In the last four years, the election denial movement shifted to county election commission meetings, courtrooms, cyber symposiums, and countless conspiracies in preparation for a repeat this November,” said Devin Burghart, president and executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
Whether these warnings are exaggerations from the left or prove to be right, it’s clear that the real heroes of Nov. 5 will be election workers in each county, whether paid staff or volunteers. They’re the ones with the guts to stand up to intimidations. They are the ones dedicated to keeping America’s democratic systems going.
“You’d have to be a psychopath to say you enjoy this,” Stephen Richer, Maricopa County, Arizona’s county recorder, a Republican, told the Wall Street Journal. He was contemplating counting ballots amid mobs, drones, concrete barriers, snipers and new fencing.
The Journal said death threats have prompted some Colorado county clerks and election officials to keep bulletproof vests at the ready. Elsewhere, officials keep Narcan on hand, in case the white powder coming at them through the mail contains fentanyl.
Even in tiny Defiance County, Ohio, with only 38,000 people, each polling location will have radios to call police quickly, if needed.
Will it be an election or a war?
We can hope the threats, the barricades and the conspiracy theories are a passing phase in the long and sometimes troubled history of the American experiment. We can hope that confidence in government institutions, especially an election system run largely by volunteers, returns as political passions wane some day.
For now, however, the prudent thing is to take no chances, from the well-armed fortress of Maricopa County to the nation’s smallest counties.
Are we expecting a general election next month, or a war? For those in the middle of it, that’s not a crazy question. And more of us are in the middle of it than you might think.
Arizona is a so-called swing state. In 2020, its narrow victory for Joe Biden was one key to his winning the White House. But if you think the threats this time are confined to battleground states only, you’re not paying attention.
In Utah, a solid red state where Donald Trump’s victory in 2020 was never in doubt, and where polls show he likely will win again in 2024, the FBI intercepted a letter recently meant for Republican Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson that contained a white powder. It also contained a letter signed by the “United States Traitor Elimination Army.”
In the weeks following the 2020 election and leading up to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, law enforcement issued several warnings about impending violence. This year, the signs are there again. Conspiracy theories already abound, centering on unfounded rumors that undocumented immigrants are coming over the border to cast ballots.
Similar claims were circulated after the last two presidential elections. In the midst of these, an audit of Arizona’s 2020 election, led by Republicans, found no widespread fraud and actually confirmed Biden’s victory by slightly more votes than the official tally. That hasn’t seemed to carry much weight.
It doesn’t help that, as the Washington Post reported, nearly half the Republican candidates for Congress or top state offices have expressed doubts about the 2024 election results already.
Wednesday morning, in a virtual press conference organized by americasvoice.org, advocates and researchers said rural counties seem particularly vulnerable this time. Some election workers are being followed and harassed.
“In the last four years, the election denial movement shifted to county election commission meetings, courtrooms, cyber symposiums, and countless conspiracies in preparation for a repeat this November,” said Devin Burghart, president and executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
Whether these warnings are exaggerations from the left or prove to be right, it’s clear that the real heroes of Nov. 5 will be election workers in each county, whether paid staff or volunteers. They’re the ones with the guts to stand up to intimidations. They are the ones dedicated to keeping America’s democratic systems going.
“You’d have to be a psychopath to say you enjoy this,” Stephen Richer, Maricopa County, Arizona’s county recorder, a Republican, told the Wall Street Journal. He was contemplating counting ballots amid mobs, drones, concrete barriers, snipers and new fencing.
The Journal said death threats have prompted some Colorado county clerks and election officials to keep bulletproof vests at the ready. Elsewhere, officials keep Narcan on hand, in case the white powder coming at them through the mail contains fentanyl.
Even in tiny Defiance County, Ohio, with only 38,000 people, each polling location will have radios to call police quickly, if needed.
Will it be an election or a war?
We can hope the threats, the barricades and the conspiracy theories are a passing phase in the long and sometimes troubled history of the American experiment. We can hope that confidence in government institutions, especially an election system run largely by volunteers, returns as political passions wane some day.
For now, however, the prudent thing is to take no chances, from the well-armed fortress of Maricopa County to the nation’s smallest counties.
RSS Feed
