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TPM: Election Day Went (Relatively) Smoothly Because States Prepped For Violence Like 2020
TPM - Election Day Went (Relatively) Smoothly Because States Prepped For Violence Like 2020
The relatively smooth election does not, however, show the years of warnings to be misguided, law enforcement and election experts told TPM.
By Khaya Himmelman
December 26, 2024 9:24 a.m
Officials across the country spent the four years following 2020 preparing for another deluge of violence and chaos during the 2024 presidential election.
Thankfully, during early voting and on Election Day itself, violence was minimal. A series of bomb threats in swing states brought a degree of chaos, though the FBI quickly dismissed them as not credible.
The relatively smooth election does not, however, show the years of warnings to be misguided, law enforcement and election experts told TPM. Rather, officials in both Arizona and Georgia — epicenters for 2020 election turmoil and threats — credit careful planning and some extreme-sounding security measures for the smooth and safe way that November’s election played out.
“These precautions were necessary to ensure that there was no disruption,” said Lindsey Miller, director of strategic research at the nonprofit Informing Democracy. “And had the outcome been different, I think we would’ve seen these systems be tested much more rigorously than they were.”
In Georgia’s Cobb County, during the months leading up to the election, the director of elections and director of the Public Services Agency, citing a “severe increase in concern for election worker safety,” approved the implementation of “panic buttons” as a way to protect poll workers. Although the measure sounds dramatic, election officials and experts told TPM at the time that this was a necessary measure to protect poll workers, given the threat environment election workers faced in a post-2020 world.
/snip
The relatively smooth election does not, however, show the years of warnings to be misguided, law enforcement and election experts told TPM.
By Khaya Himmelman
December 26, 2024 9:24 a.m
Officials across the country spent the four years following 2020 preparing for another deluge of violence and chaos during the 2024 presidential election.
Thankfully, during early voting and on Election Day itself, violence was minimal. A series of bomb threats in swing states brought a degree of chaos, though the FBI quickly dismissed them as not credible.
The relatively smooth election does not, however, show the years of warnings to be misguided, law enforcement and election experts told TPM. Rather, officials in both Arizona and Georgia — epicenters for 2020 election turmoil and threats — credit careful planning and some extreme-sounding security measures for the smooth and safe way that November’s election played out.
“These precautions were necessary to ensure that there was no disruption,” said Lindsey Miller, director of strategic research at the nonprofit Informing Democracy. “And had the outcome been different, I think we would’ve seen these systems be tested much more rigorously than they were.”
In Georgia’s Cobb County, during the months leading up to the election, the director of elections and director of the Public Services Agency, citing a “severe increase in concern for election worker safety,” approved the implementation of “panic buttons” as a way to protect poll workers. Although the measure sounds dramatic, election officials and experts told TPM at the time that this was a necessary measure to protect poll workers, given the threat environment election workers faced in a post-2020 world.
/snip
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