‘We’re a Fortress Now’: The Militarization of US Elections Is Here

Drones, snipers, razor wire, sniffer dogs, physique armor, bulletproof glass, and 24-hour armed safety.

This isn’t an inventory of protections in place for a go to by the president of america nor the contents of a shipment to frontline troops fighting in Ukraine. This can be a record of the safety measures election officers in counties throughout the US have needed to implement forward of Tuesday’s vote on account of the unprecedented threats they have faced in recent times.

Officers are putting in the everyday remaining measures to make sure the graceful operation of an election, however past checking that they’ve sufficient ballots and that machines are working correctly, officers at the moment are confronted with having to observe for threats and ensure they’ve executed every little thing they’ll to guard themselves and their workers.

“Given the present political setting, the chance that an occasion might happen has elevated, and our election professionals have responded in sort,” says Tammy Patrick, a former election official in Arizona’s Maricopa County who’s now a senior adviser on the nonprofit Bolstering Elections Initiative. “Efforts specializing in the bodily safety of the voters, election employees, and workers by placing in bulletproof glass, panic buttons, razor wire, and fencing are pretty frequent, as is the set up of surveillance cameras and techniques, cyber protections, and coaching on de-escalation methods and response drills.”

Nowhere within the US is the militarization of the election course of extra evident than in Maricopa County.

The fourth largest county within the nation, Maricopa grew to become floor zero for election denial conspiracists in recent times, after GOP lawmakers sanctioned a bogus recount in 2021, run by the Florida firm Cyber Ninjas.

In consequence, the county has for years been placing elevated safety measures in place. “We’re a fortress now,” Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County Recorder, instructed WIRED again in February, outlining how he needed to navigate safety fencing, metallic detectors, and safety checks with a purpose to get into his workplace.

Because the 2024 election approaches, the measures Maricopa officers are putting in have been ratcheted up considerably.

Officers have added a second layer of safety fencing to guard election places of work, in addition to concrete k-rails, which suggests election employees will likely be bused in from offsite places attributable to diminished parking areas. On the nation’s tabulation middle, each door will likely be fitted with metallic detectors, floodlights will likely be put in, and on election day the middle will likely be protected by a hoop of snipers deployed on roofs across the constructing, election officers instructed NBC.