‘Panic buttons,’ SWAT teams: US braces for election unrest

WASHINGTON: Panic buttons for poll workers, special weapons teams deployed on rooftops and the National Guard on standby.

The 2024 US presidential election campaign has been a particularly volatile one, and security for Election Day (today) is being ramped up to unprecedented levels given concerns over possible civil unrest, election chicanery, or violence against election workers.

The states of Oregon, Washington and Nevada have activated the National Guard, the FBI has set up a command post to monitor threats, and security has been bolstered at many of the nation´s nearly 100,000 polling stations.

Nineteen states -- including key election battlegrounds Arizona, Michigan and Nevada -- have enacted election security enhancement laws since 2020, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

With Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump deadlocked at the climax of the race, authorities are keen to reassure jittery Americans that their votes are secure. But they are also bolstering physical security for election operations across the country.

Runbeck Election Services, which provides security technology for poll operations, confirmed to AFP on Monday it has ordered some 1,000 panic buttons for clients that include election facilities and their workers.

These small devices worn as a lanyard or held in a pocket are paired with a user´s cell phone and contact law enforcement or other authorities in case of emergency.Officials in the seven most closely watched swing states are eager to convey confidence in a secure and fair election.

“Here in Georgia, it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. Our systems are secure and our people are ready,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters on Monday.Fringe activists might bring some “extra drama” to the proceedings, he said.

But Raffensperger added that he expects the election to be safe in Georgia, a swing state where Trump is facing charges over his interference in the 2020 election by demanding officials “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden´s victory there.

In Arizona, a southwestern swing state that became a fulcrum of election night unrest and conspiracy theories in 2020, officials have turned the state´s main election and ballot counting facility, in Maricopa County, into a veritable fortress.

It now has wrought-iron fencing, barbed wire, armed guards and a SWAT presence on the roof, according to officials.The efforts have been aimed not only at beefing up physical security and countering disinformation but at reassuring voters that the process is secure.