For election officials across the country, the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and less directly, the turnover at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket have brought into stark focus just how tumultuous the election environment has become since the 2020 election.
Election workers, who have faced a torrent of violence and threats to their lives for years now, have been preparing for another onslaught of potential violence in November, incorporating active shooter training, greater security measures for voting facilities, and establishing stronger partnerships with law enforcement, just in case we see a repeat of what unfolded at the hands of election deniers in 2020.
“It focused everyone a little bit more,” former Georgia election’s director and current deputy director of Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council Chris Harvey told TPM. “I think it’s going to have maybe a galvanizing effect to just reemphasize how people view what’s at stake and how serious people are about this and how in some cases, fanatical they can be about this stuff.”
Katie Reisner, senior counsel for the nonpartisan States United Democracy Center, similarly noted that the shooting “has driven home the gravity of the threat environment that election officials have been facing.”
It’s the assassination attempt combined with Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race that have election officials on edge. It’s unclear what impact either development will have on actual election administration, but the potential for conspiracy theories, threats and political violence was already high heading into the fall. It’s too early to say exactly how Kamala Harris entering the presidential race will change the election administration landscape, but Harvey says that it no doubt added a certain amount of “adrenaline to the race.” And while some amount of adrenaline isn’t a bad thing, he says, it can also be “troublesome” if it’s not properly managed.
“Anything that I think energizes a race is something that people need to be aware of,” he said.
And with Harris as the presumptive Democratic nominee, the race, according to recent polling, will be close.
“Anytime you have tight margins, you get opportunities, mischief and trouble,” Harvey said.
For election workers — who have been dealing with violent threats and the very real possibility of an active shooter, or some sort of violence unfolding around the election for years now — last week’s assassination attempt, unfortunately, wasn’t as shocking as it was for many in the country. In some ways, it’s only made outsiders more acutely aware of how dangerous the election environment has been and continues to be.
“In some ways it just sort of created this situation where everyone is asking us about it and then we’re like, ‘yeah, that’s our world and now you guys are talking about it,’” Dane County, Wisconsin Clerk Scott McDonnell told TPM. “We’ve been operating under this situation for a while now.”
According to Harvey, Saturday’s shooting has highlighted to law enforcement specifically just how real election threats are, noting that, in his experience, law enforcement has been a little bit late to understanding the full extent of the threats to election security.
“I think it maybe got the attention of law enforcement a little bit more,” he said.
And instead of overhauling security protocols in place of new ones, officials and experts told TPM that the attempted assassination at a Trump campaign rally earlier this month has reaffirmed the importance of the type of security training and protocols elections offices have already begun to institute ahead of November.
Derek Bowens, director of elections in Durham County, North Carolina said that the shooting has highlighted just how critical newly adopted security protocols have become.
“Election officials were already in a heightened state with regards to some of the rhetoric and some of things that we’re seeing and some of the previous allegations still leading over to the current election,” he said, referencing ongoing efforts among Donald Trump and his allies to keep the Big Lie activated.
Like others across the U.S., officials in Durham County had already begun using geocode locating tools as part of their election administration process. The tool allows officials to track the chief election administrators while he or she is picking up and returning critical voting supplies. The tool, which was first used in a smaller primary election in the county, provides live location updates every three seconds.
“We were shocked, appalled with this political violence and an attempt on the life of the former president, and so we are definitely on guard,” Bowens added.
McDonnell similarly said that his Wisconsin county’s active shooter training, which is run by the sheriff’s department, has become particularly important this election cycle
“We’ve had multiple election officials here been subject to death threats and we’ve had just very aggressive situations,” he added. “We’ve been preparing for a much higher security level beforehand.”
