After the recent shooting and attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a July political rally unsettled the nation, very real and pressing concerns around physical security are now center stage as the United States heads into the height of an election year.
During that event, the shooter was killed, one bystander was killed, and two more bystanders were seriously injured, according to BBC News.
What that attack underscores is how central concerns over physical and personal security are in American politics today. In many ways, as threats over political violence continue to loom large, federal, state, and local entities are prioritizing heightened and robust security protocols as Americans get ready to head to the polls for this fall’s elections.
One of the key areas where physical security is paramount lies in protecting local polling sites and election facilities. The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has a clear resource guide for local and state election officials to help them connect with community law enforcement and emergency management services, make a plan to strengthen security infrastructure, train election workers and offer them resources to address any unexpected threat, and give volunteers and employees the information needed to report any signs of suspicious activity around and during elections this year.
These efforts have been front of mind once the year started, with those involved in the country’s elections understanding that 2024 was going to be a particularly charged year.
A May piece in Cyberscoop outlines that physical threats — not AI — pose the biggest danger this election year. They wrote about how, at this year’s RSA Conference, CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales stated that physical threats to polling places, ballot counting centers, and areas where election-related equipment is stored are “where we’ve concentrated a lot of our efforts this year.”
“U.S. election officials are already facing a tsunami of physical threats, harassment, doxing and swatting attacks — in which police are called to a person’s residence on phony pretenses — and the risk of violence is only exacerbated by persistent and false online narratives that American elections are in one way or another rigged, experts caution,” the article reads.
In a more localized article, the Tampa Bay Times reports on the fact that Tampa-area elections supervisors are beefing up spending on both cyber and physical security protections. Reporter Justin Garcia notes that the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections office “has installed additional security cameras and put up physical barriers to protect the building’s main doors,” while “all local counties are bolstering cybersecurity protections.”
None of this is meant to scare the average American or deter voting. Quite the opposite is true. During a time when threats of political violence seem stark, even terrifying, there is a call to action for those monitoring elections at both the local and federal levels to ensure the process is smooth and safe for everyone.
One can’t have free and fair elections without strong security protocols.
Peter Cavicchia II 