As communities across the country participate in the time-honored tradition of selecting their leaders at the ballot box, it provides an opportunity for community leaders, election officials, public safety agencies, and homeland security organizations to ensure they are properly prepared against election security threats.
A Rise in Threats to Elections and Election Organizations
Safe and secure elections are fundamental to United States (US) democracy, and safeguarding elections aligns with federal policy goals – particularly the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) designating election security as a national priority area for its State Homeland Security Program (SHSP) and its Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI). DHS’s commitment to enhanced election security is embedded in its preparedness assistance, with recipients of SHSP and UASI funds required to allocate at least three percent of funds received through these programs towards this priority area.
When thinking about enhanced safety, communities must be prepared for threats to essential personnel and the electoral process. According to a survey published in April 2023 by the Brennan Center for Justice, one out of every five election workers know someone who left their election job for safety reasons, while 73 percent of local election officials say harassment has increased in recent years.
A more recent CivicPulse/Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI) survey, released in September 2023, reviewed hostile behavior towards local officials, finding: “Depending on the time of the year, approximately half of local public officials have consistently reported being insulted verbally, while a third have reported being harassed. About one in five report experiencing threats of physical violence, and between one to two percent have experienced such violence.”
In efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of essential personnel, preparedness is key – planning for and exercising response to these risks will prepare personnel to respond when called upon effectively.
A Whole Community Approach to Election Security Preparedness
Considering the complexity of challenges in election security, convening the right people to prepare is critical – understanding what organizations are involved in election security in the relevant jurisdiction, as well as their operational responsibilities and priorities. Various stakeholders may include, but are not limited to:
Activities That Strengthen Election Security Preparedness
Election security should be pursued through a comprehensive, integrated preparedness initiative that demonstrates community involvement. Assessments, planning, training, and exercise activities specifically geared to election security can be developed and fused with annual election programming. Election security preparedness programming can include a multitude of activities, all strengthening safety and security capabilities at different levels of operation:
Hagerty Can Help
Since elections can be decentralized, it is also important to remember that there is no single pathway to preparedness nor a one-size-fits-all approach to which stakeholders should be involved in preparedness initiatives. Hagerty understands this and supports state and county election organizations in providing tailored remedies based on the specific institutional arrangements for overseeing and administering elections in different jurisdictions.
Hagerty is a leader in emergency management and homeland security, preparing all organizations—including those that safeguard elections—for emergencies and disasters. Hagerty works with stakeholders to ensure that its assessments get to the heart of identifying opportunities for improvement, its plans are user-friendly and easily accessible, its trainings empower those who participate, and its exercises are meaningful, engaging, and innovative learning experiences, as exemplified by its crisis leadership workshops for Elected and Appointed Officials and its Hunter Seeker intelligence and information sharing exercises.
Whether it’s planning for the upcoming election or election security beyond election day, Hagerty can help.
David Schuld is a Deputy Director at Hagerty Consulting. David joined Hagerty in 2014 and has become a leading subject matter expert on best practices in security and threat management issues.