As threats grow, funds for election security see a squeeze [View all]
Source: CNN Politics
Updated 4:46 PM EDT, Sat September 21, 2024
Phoenix CNN — When the ballot counting begins inside Arizona’s Maricopa County Tabulation Center this November, election workers will be protected behind doors and windows with bullet-proof glass and two layers of fencing. Security cameras will be monitored for suspicious activity inside and outside the building. A fleet of police drones and rooftop snipers will be at the ready.
In many ways, the county’s election headquarters has been transformed into “a fortress,” says Bill Gates, a member of the county’s Board of Supervisors who has received repeated death threats for rejecting bogus claims that officials helped steal elections in 2020 and 2022. He says the new safety measures reflect “the reality of elections in 2024.”
Such precautions were unheard of a few years ago. But during the ballot count in 2020, when armed MAGA protesters — inflamed by former President Donald Trump’s false claims of election cheating — swarmed the tabulation center and forced police to lock workers and reporters inside for their own safety, county leaders decided more needed to be done. That’s why Maricopa County has spent over $864,000 in federal funds and more than $3 million in county funds to bolster its election security and processes over the past four years.
But that level of planning and preparation stands in stark contrast with that of many other locales across the country with similar worries about election-related turmoil this November.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/21/politics/election-security-funds-decline-threats-grow-invs/index.html
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