As November balloting nears, local election workers fear for their safety due to harassment and threats that have already led to an exodus of them from jobs across the country. The Committee of Safe and Secure Elections is training election officials on how they can respond to threats and work with law enforcement to counter them, reports the Associated Press.
A survey last year by the Brennan Center for Justice found that about 1 in 5 election workers knew someone who left their election job for safety reasons and nearly 75% of local election officials said harassment had increased. To combat this trend, the trainings guide election workers through various scenarios and helps them think through potential responses, like when to call law enforcement or release information to the public. Election offices deal with everything from AI-generated robocalls telling workers to stay home to threatening emails, and even fentanyl delivered in the mail. The federal government is contributing. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency plans to assess the physical security of local election offices and provided guidance to election staff on how to de-escalate tense situations on voting day.