Election officials beef up security as new survey shows nearly 4 in 10 grapple with threats and harassment

(CNN) — When officials in Durham, North Carolina, open their new $24 million elections operations center later this year, it will include a feature not in the original plan: a separate mail-room exhaust system to guard against dangerous particles spreading through the building.

The design change came after a spate of suspicious letters – some laced with fentanyl – landed at election offices around the country last year, said Derek Bowens, who has served as Durham County’s elections director since 2017. The letters, which were sent to election offices from Georgia to Washington state, set off fresh security concerns for a workforce battered by unprecedented threats and harassment.

Durham didn’t receive any of those letters, but “we were terrified” that the county – a Democratic bastion in a swing state – would be targeted, Bowens said. “There was mass concern.”

A new survey released Wednesday by the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school highlights how the volatile environment around elections since 2020 has changed how officials like Bowens approach their jobs.

Ninety-two percent of local election officials surveyed say they have taken action since 2020 to increase security – ranging from new cybersecurity protections for election technology to creating emergency response plans with law enforcement to beefing up the physical security of their offices and polling places.

And the survey of nearly 930 local election officials underscores why. Among its findings:

• 38% of local election officials surveyed this year reported that they had been harassed, abused or threatened – up from 30% of respondents last year.
• 7 out of 10 said they felt that threats had increased since 2020.
• More than half – 54% – said they are worried about the safety of colleagues and staff.
• Nearly 1 in 4 are worried about being targeted in “swatting” incidents, potentially dangerous hoaxes in which a caller makes a false crime report with the goal of triggering an armed law enforcement response.

The security worries are a pattern the Brennan Center has seen across several recent surveys and a contributing factor in an exodus of election workers from their posts.

High turnover

The latest survey underscores the turnover rate for local election officials: For nearly 1 in 5 of those surveyed, this year marks their first presidential election on the job; another 6% who are serving said they are likely to leave before November.

Lawrence Norden, the senior director of the Brennan Center’s elections and government program, said he worries about Americans growing “numb” to the problems these workers face.

“It’s a danger that it’s almost accepted that this is how election officials and election workers should have to feel about doing their jobs,” he said. “It’s completely unacceptable that close to 40% of election officials say they are harassed, abused or threatened.”

Norden, however, said there are reasons for optimism as election officials move quickly to adapt to their challenging circumstances.

Despite the turnover, “three-quarters of them have stuck through this,” Norden said. “They are continuing to work under these conditions, and they are making adjustments to ensure that our (election) infrastructure is safe and that workers and voters can feel safe.”

The survey also shows that the vast majority of those polled see the need for more financial investments: Eighty-three percent said their budgets needed to grow to keep up with election administration and security needs over the next five years.

The survey of local election officials took place between February 23 and March 28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The center used a list of 11,678 local election officials from the nonpartisan U.S. Vote Foundation.

Everyone on the list was contacted via email to participate in the survey. In all, 928 local election officials responded.

A quarter of the respondents said they were Democrats; 33% described themselves as Republican and 34% as independent or other. The remainder of those surveyed did not answer the partisan affiliation question, a Brennan official said.

Masks, bullet-proof glass and GPS trackers

Back in Durham County, election workers now wear masks and gloves to handle incoming mail, Bowens said. (In response to the suspicious letters sent to election officials last year, the federal government issued detailed guidance on mail-handling in these offices, including a recommendation that election offices have supplies of the overdose reversal medication naloxone on hand in the event of exposure to a deadly opioid such as fentanyl.)

While voting is underway, the county stands up an emergency operations center involving local law enforcement and election officials. Bowens said it sprang into action during North Carolina’s March primary when a voter showed up at a polling location after it had closed and declared, “If I can’t vote with a ballot, I’ll vote with a bullet,” before leaving.

Law enforcement responded; the man didn’t return, Bowens said.

The new elections center will include duress buttons and bullet-proof glass, he said. And in the primary runoff elections on May 14, the county will deploy new technology to better protect the election and its workers. A GPS tracking device given to the workers in charge of each polling place will convey their location every three seconds – in part to guard against someone intercepting those workers as they return with results and ballots after polls close.

“It’s challenging to deal with, but election officials are some of the most resilient people I’ve ever come in contact with,” said Bowens, who has worked in elections administration for a dozen years. “No one grows up and says, ‘I’m going to be an election official.’”

“It’s learned resiliency,” he added. “Once you get the desire to preserve the democracy – that, at times, feels like it’s threatened – in your blood, it’s like fighting for your own family.”

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