Election officials prepare for threats with panic buttons, bulletproof glass
Source: AP
Updated 9:14 AM EDT, September 17, 2024
MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) The election director in Cobb County, an Atlanta suburb where votes will be fiercely contested in this years presidential race, recently organized a five-hour training session. The focus wasnt solely on the nuts-and-bolts of running this years election. Instead, it brought together election staff and law enforcement to strategize on how to keep workers safe and the process of voting and ballot-counting secure.
Having a local sheriffs deputy at early voting locations and panic buttons that connect poll managers to a local 911 dispatcher are among the added security steps the office is taking this year.
Tate Fall, Cobb Countys election director, said she was motivated to act after hearing one of her poll workers describe being confronted during the states presidential primary in March by an agitated voter who the worker noticed was carrying a gun. The situation ended peacefully, but the poll worker was shaken.
That made it really real for me that its so easy for something to go sideways in life, period, let alone the environment of Georgia and elections, Fall said. I just cant have someone being harmed on my conscience.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/election-workers-2024-threats-security-police-trump-kamala-biden-steal-c4f27414a5a90b67983b0349a370dd13